Flood Resources and Information for Farmers and Ranchers 

June 17, 2022

As Southern Montana starts to rebuild from recent flooding along the Yellowstone River and its tributaries, thousands of acres of agricultural land and infrastructure will need to be repaired and rebuilt.

This landing page on the westernagnetwork.com will serve as resource to assist landowners, farmers and ranchers as they begin the process of rebuilding their operations. 

Montana Beef Council Coordinating Flood Donations

The Montana Beef Council is coordinating beef donations to help feed those impacted by last week’s flood along with the volunteers and officials helping with clean up. You can help to!

Contact MBC's Chaley Harney at 406-855-2857 or email chaley@montanabeefcouncil.org

Watch Chaley Harney discuss the Montana Beef Council's efforts to feed those impacted by flooding by clicking play. 

USDA Compiling Loss Assessment Report 

USDA Service Centers across Montana are working to compile a Loss Assessment Report that will paint a full picture of the destruction caused by this week’s flooding.

Les Rispens, Acting State Executive Dir. for Montana Farm Service Agency said that the information submitted by farmers, ranchers and landowners will be vital for USDA in Washington D.C. to fully understand the situation at hand, and start the process of administering disaster aid programs for agriculture. 

Watch the full interview with Les Rispens and Lane Nordlund on flood and drought resources:

Ag producers and landowners should be contacting their local FSA office to share their losses. 

“They should, if possible, sharing pictures or descriptions of the types of damage,” said Rispens. “If we get rough numbers about how many acres have been damaged, how many miles of fence we've lost. How much feed has been destroyed by the flood. Those kinds of things help us put together the Loss Assessment Report that we believe will send back to Washington DC.”

There's also another natural disaster impacting producers across the region. Severe drought. Les Rispens shared information on a FSA program providing assistance to livestock producers. 

“We've implemented the Livestock Feed Program in 18 Montana counties for 2022,” said Rispens. “That program is triggered by our status on the National Drought Monitor. It attempts to compensate people for feed losses as a result of the drought."

"The thing that people can do to help their counties qualify is to go to the Drought Monitor website and participate,” explained Rispens.” “You can submit pictures of local drought conditions to the Drought Monitor and it helps them truth test, the data that they're looking at. And very often results in significant changes in the drought status for an area."

Agriculture Conversations: Montana Flooding and its Impact on Ag

John Lockie shares a firsthand account of the impact this week’s flooding is having on his ranch near the Yellowstone River.

Watch or Listen to the conversation between John Lockie and Lane Nordlund 

Source: Western Ag Network