Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Drought Disaster Declared

Gov. Mike Huckabee was informed Friday that U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman has approved the governor's request that all 75 Arkansas counties be declared a disaster area, because of drought conditions.

The governor asked Glickman to declare a statewide disaster in August. After receiving the request, the federal Farm Service Agency did damage assessment reports on each county.

"Based on this review, all 75 counties have sustained sufficient production losses in a single enterprise to warrant a secretarial disaster designation. Therefore, I am designating al l75 counties as primary disaster areas," Glickman wrote in a letter to Huckabee.

The designation makes family-sized farm operators eligible to be considered for low-interest emergency loans from FSA.

"Secretary Glickman's positive response to our request is great news for Arkansas farmers," Huckabee said. "It doesn't do all for our farmers we wish we could do, like bring rain and higher prices, but it will help take a little of the sting out of brutal summer."

The governor wrote Glickman August 20 asking for the designation. In that letter, Huckabee said, "Temperatures have been at or above 100 degrees with heat indexes of 105-110 degrees since mid-June in a large portion of the state. Crops were off to a good start. However, drought conditions are taking a toll."