CHARLESTON — With the State Fair of West Virginia kicking off today, Agriculture Commissioner Kent Leonhardt is preparing to welcome the public and vendors, but he is also working with state and federal officials to support farmers suffering through the worst drought in decades.
Leonhardt, who is running for a third four-year term as commissioner of agriculture, requested that Gov. Jim Justice declare a state of emergency for all 55 counties due to drought conditions across the state, which Justice did by proclamation on July 26.
While the entire state is affected by the drought, much of the central part of West Virginia is in the D2 severe drought category as of Aug. 1 according to the U.S. Drought Monitor published by the National Drought Mitigation Center, while the entire Eastern Panhandle and parts of the Potomac Highlands are in D3, extreme drought.
Leonhardt, speaking by phone on his way to the fairgrounds in Fairlea, said the last time a drought was this bad in the state was 1999, while some counties are seeing their worst drought in more than a century.
“A week or so ago when I requested the state of emergency from the governor, I was told that the drought in Jefferson County was the second worst in 130 years,” Leonhardt said.
All farmers are feeling the effects of the drought due to the lack of rain in West Virginia this summer, Leonhardt said, but livestock farmers are being hardest hit due to the demand for hay and feed for animals.
“What’s happened is people got their hay crop in, and the pastures have stopped growing since it stopped raining in early June, particularly in the Eastern Panhandle,” Leonhardt said. “When the grass stops growing, then you can’t carry as many animals – not just cows, but sheep, goats, and all our livestock are affected.
“Normally, you’re feeding them fresh grass through the summer, but the grass stops growing,” Leonhardt continued. “You can’t continue that feeding that you’re expected to do. So, your carrying capacity on your farm becomes less. Then you end up having to sell some animals, so a lot of farmers are selling some animals off right now. But a lot of them are feeding them what they just harvested to get them through, hoping rain comes and the grass grows again.”
Leonhardt said he is working closely with former state treasurer John Perdue, who now works as the state executive director for the West Virginia Farm Service Agency through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Leonhardt said the Farm Service Agency will be rolling out programs specific to the regions of the state seeing the worst drought conditions.
“In the D3 areas, it’s going to be a feeding program and the rest of the state it’s going to be right now a grazing program to help improve the pastures and things of that nature,” Leonhardt said.
According to Leonhardt, the federal government will pay for 60% of the feeding and grazing programs. Leonhardt is talking with the Governor’s Office about the state covering all or part of the additional 40% cost of these programs.
As chairman of the State Conservation Committee, the governing body of the West Virginia Conservation Agency, Leonhardt said emergency funds were made available for the state’s 14 conservation districts for watering programs. These programs include providing funding for farmers to buy water tanks and allowing for cost sharing for emergency hook-up to municipal water sources.
“If there’s a city water line that comes nearby, we allow for cost sharing for the hook-up of city water so they can use city water to water their livestock if their farms are going dry and their springs are drying up because of the drought,” Leonhardt said. “Obviously, city water is more expensive than a spring that’s running on your farm. But you’ve got to make sure your animals have access to water.”
Another thing being discussed is reimbursements by the state for fire departments who are helping farmers by hauling water. The state Conservation Agency is also allowing farmers access to impoundments for flood control dams in order to provide water to livestock.
“Normally, we don’t allow that because it’s just a safety thing, but we’re allowing them to do that because it’s an emergency,” Leonhardt said. “We’ve got to water our livestock.”
As for the State Fair, Leonhardt said more than 30 vendors are participating in the Country Store which shows off agribusinesses. He said the drought hasn’t caused a big reduction in participation in the State Fair this year, with farmers remaining positive despite the lack of rain.
“There’s a lot of great things that are happening at the State Fair for agriculture in the State of West Virginia,” Leonhardt said. “Prior to the drought, we were trending up. Livestock numbers were going up, meat production was up, farmers’ markets were up. So, we were on a good trend. We’re going to get kicked back a little bit from the drought, but we’re going to come back even stronger. I’ve talked to a lot of farmers. They’re being positive about it.”
The State Fair of West Virginia continues through Aug. 17. More information is available at statefairofwv.com. Those seeking drought assistance can visit agriculture.wv.gov.