News Update
June 20, 2014
Final Yearly Snowpack Forecast Divides West into a Wet North and Dry South
Every winter Westerners look to the mountains and may not realize they’re peering into the future. More snowcap means more water come spring and summer. Many lives and livelihoods depend on nature’s uneven hand.
Thanks to USDA’s National Water and Climate Center, what used to be speculation is now science. Through a network of high-elevation weather stations across the West, the center accurately forecasts how much water Western states will receive from snowmelt.
The data benefit everyone in the path of the streamflow. The center’s water supply forecasts empower states to take action to prevent flooding or prepare for drought.
Earlier this month the center released the year’s final forecast culminating data from the five before it, which shows the West divided into a wet north and dry south.
Washington, most of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and the northern parts of Colorado and Utah are expected to have near normal or above-normal water supplies through the rest of summer, according to the forecasts. Far below-normal streamflows are expected for the southern parts of Oregon and Utah, southwestern Idaho, California, Arizona, New Mexico and western Nevada.
Many of these areas are in the nearly 500 counties across the country experiencing drought, 57 of them in California alone, according to USDA disaster designations.
This year saw near-record low snowfall in parts of Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico and the southern parts of Utah and Oregon. Even with some May precipitation, those areas remain dry. The biggest change this season was in the Washington Cascades. At the beginning of February, the snowpack was about half of normal, but it recovered and most of Washington will have a near-normal water supply from snowmelt, according to the Center.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Kansas' Top Ag-Producing Counties
Overlay the Ogallala Aquifer
Of the 105 total counties in Kansas, the top eight counties for market value of agricultural products sold border one another. Coincidence or commonality?
According to the 2007 U.S. Census of Agriculture, those top eight Kansas counties for agricultural production are located in western Kansas. The counties — Scott, Haskell, Finney, Gray, Grant, Ford, Wichita and Seward — together sold more than $4.7 billion in crops and livestock. The eight-county contribution represents about one-third of total agricultural revenue for the entire state of Kansas.
Ernie Minton, Kansas State University (K-State) Research and Extension associate director for research and technology transfer, said one very important thing that ties all of these counties together is a vast water resource — the Ogallala Aquifer. The aquifer, which encompasses more than 170,000 square miles, supports both crop and livestock production in western Kansas and in the seven other states it touches, from South Dakota to Texas.
K-State studying the aquifer
David Steward, a K-State professor of civil engineering, and a team of researchers recently completed a study that examined the future of the Ogallala Aquifer. The study found that if current usage of the aquifer continues, as much as 69% of the aquifer would be depleted by 2060.
Usage is exceeding the recharge of the aquifer, which has led to its depletion. This is a concern for farmers and ranchers, and could also be a major factor in the viability of the Kansas economy. Irrigated corn and beef cattle are two major economic drivers in western Kansas, including those top eight counties.
“The scenario is that irrigation drives corn production that is either directly fed to feedlot cattle or run through ethanol plants, then distillers’ grains [are] fed to cattle,” Minton said. “Together, between cattle and crop production, this represents a significant amount of economic activity in the state that could be at risk if the aquifer can no longer support irrigation.”
For more information, please view the full release here.
Estate Taxes Now Ripe for Repeal
With 218 co-sponsors — more than half of the House of Representatives — on board, legislation to repeal estate taxes is ripe for floor action, the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) said June 18.
Rep. Kevin Brady’s (R-Texas) Death Tax Repeal Act, H.R. 2429, would repeal estate taxes, and maintain stepped-up basis.
“Although permanent law enacted as part of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 provided significant estate tax relief, repeal is the best solution to protect all farms and ranches from the estate tax,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman.
The estate tax burden falls heavily on farmers because it takes more capital assets, such as land and equipment, to generate the same level of income as other types of businesses.
If Congress fails to permanently repeal the estate tax, surviving family members may be forced to sell off parts of their farms, ultimately jeopardizing their livelihoods.
“Look at land alone,” Stallman said. “As it skyrockets in value, the chances of surviving family members having to sell some substantial acreage to pay estate taxes grows right along with it. This not only can cripple a farm or ranch operation, but also hurts the rural communities and businesses that agriculture supports.”
Neches White Clover Released
Texas A&M AgriLife Research has released a new white clover, named Neches after the Texas river, that promises higher yields and much earlier flowering and seed production than any heretofore variety adapted to East Texas and the southeastern United States.
The clover was developed by Gerald Smith, AgriLife Research plant breeder at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Overton.
“We’re very excited about this clover because it combines a lot of traits that just fit for our area,” Smith said.
Like other white clovers, Neches does well on the wet, loamy bottomland soils of East Texas, he said. However, other white clovers do not flower profusely — and therefore do not produce much seed — until at least early to midsummer. In East Texas, midsummers are usually hot and dry, and white clover stands are likely to die out before they can produce seed.
This means, Smith said, white clovers in bottomlands must be reseeded every year to reestablish the stand, which can be an expensive proposition.
With this limitation of existing white clovers in mind, Smith’s goal was to develop a variety at least as highly productive and had as much disease and pest resistance as existing varieties, but that would flower and produce seed before the stand was lost in summer.
Early this June it was obvious Neches fits the bill perfectly, he said. In side-by-side demonstration fields of Neches and a ladino white clover, the difference in flowering was obvious. While Barblanca, the ladino clover, had one or two flowering seed heads per square foot (sq. ft.), Neches had 20-30 seed heads per sq. ft.
Smith also selected for larger leaves, which means high forage yields, another obvious advantage, he said.
“Neches should be available this fall anywhere Barenbrug seed is sold,” Smith said.
For more information, please view the full release here.