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By Kevin Allen
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
With local farmers battling drought conditions this summer, the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors is scheduled Monday to consider asking the state for help and address one possible cause of the dry conditions.
County Administrator John McCarthy drafted a drought-disaster resolution to be adopted by the supervisors Monday.
If the supervisors adopt the resolution, McCarthy will file it with the governor’s office to request that Rappahannock be designated as a drought disaster area.
In the document, McCarthy writes that Rappahannock has received considerably less rain than normal during this year’s growing season, and the drought conditions have severely affected farmers.
Rappahannock’s Food and Agriculture Council reported that the county has experienced a 40 percent loss in coolseason grasses and a 34.8 percent loss in alfalfa and mixed forage. The council is made up of representatives from the Farm Service Agency, the Natural Resource Conservation Service and the Virginia Cooperative Extension.
Gov. Tim Kaine has already designated 10 counties around the commonwealth as droughtdisaster areas this year. Neighboring Culpeper County is among those designated.
Disaster declarations make farm operators in both primary and adjacent areas eligible for low-interest emergency loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The supervisors will also consider signing the Cool Counties Declaration on Monday.
The resolution states that a consensus among the world’s leading scientists has found global warming to be caused by human-related emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels.
The change in climate is documented to increase the frequency of extreme weather
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