By Associated Press
Washington DC – Alabama's congressional delegation requested $17 million in federal aid Monday for farmers affected by the severe drought, which a state climatologist says is the state's worst in more than a century.
The proposal, which was submitted to the Senate and House Appropriations Committees for legislative consideration, seeks $10 million from the Emergency Conservation Program to restore pasture and drill wells to sustain livestock. It requests another $7 million from the Livestock Assistance Program, which provides payments to livestock producers who suffer grazing losses because of natural disasters.
The letter also asks that farmers who experienced losses during an April freeze be made eligible for assistance contained in a disaster supplemental bill passed earlier this year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared all 67 counties in Alabama as disaster areas as a result of the drought.