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AFBF study finds Western Drought having large financial implications on producers

An economist from the American Farm Bureau says the on-going drought in the Western U.S. is having financial impacts on producers nation-wide.

Danny Munch tells Brownfield AFBF conducted a survey to see how prevalent crop, livestock and water issues were. “Eighty-five percent of respondents rated selling off portions of their herd or flock as prevalent or higher.  Eighty-seven percent of respondents say increase in feed costs are higher. Seventy-six percent were saying they were traveling long distance to acquire feed or forage.”

Munch says the group surveyed members in a 13-state region including the Dakotas. In each section, farmers rated issues they maybe facing from 0 – not at all to 5 – very prevalent.

Munch says crops that can’t be grown in a state due to the drought will likely affect the food supply. “We will increase what we’ll have to import from other countries because it’s no longer accessible in the U.S.,” he says. “There’s kind of wide-reaching impacts for how important that region is for the domestic U.S. food supply.”

Danny Munch, American Farm Bureau: