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By Monty Tayloe
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Rappahannock County has been designated a federal drought disaster area by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, according to a September 11 announcement from the office of Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.
The designation will allow area farms affected by dry conditions and a lack of rainfall this past spring to apply for low interest loans and reimbursement to help offset their losses caused by “drought and high temperatures that occurred beginning March 1, 2006, and continuing.”
The Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors applied for the drought designation several months ago, when diy conditions started to concern local farmers and caused the forest service to recommend a ban on outdoor burning. Since the application for disaster relief, Rappahannock County has experienced an increase in rainfall and milder conditions, but according to County Administrator John McCarthy, the favorable weather came too late to save the first cutting of the county’s hay harvest.
McCarthy believes that hay growers were most affected by the dry period, and that their crop yields may
90.1%