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Missouri drought cost share program expanded
Because of the heavy response to the emergency cost share program unveiled Tuesday, Governor Jay Nixon added to it on Thursday. In addition to the initial $2 million announced Tuesday, Governor Nixon added another $5 million.
“Let me clear,” said Governor Nixon at the Missouri Department of Agriculture Headquarters Thursday morning, “the state of Missouri will stand with our farmers and livestock producers at every stage of this drought emergency.”
Since the initial announcement, the program attracted more than 600 applications from farmers requesting assistance with drilling or deepening water wells or expanding irrigation systems. As of Thursday morning 33 contracts had been approved, but more were being considered at the time of Thursday’s announcement. There’s a $20,000 cap on each application, but so far the average award is $6,300.
“It’s not about how do you take the next six months to build a new system out there,” said Governor Nixon, referring to the program’s limited scope of addressing circumstances resulting from the drought emergency. “This is what immediate needs are because of the historic drought conditions and heat conditions that can allow us to save our livestock, work to support our dairy industry, and on many operations in the row-crop area, make sure that we get as good a crop to market this fall as possible.”
According to Governor Nixon, the funding source is House Bill 8, which allows the Governor to direct funds in response to an emergency, provided the services furnish immediate aid and relief.
AUDIO: Governor Jay Nixon (15 min. MP3)
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