The federal government is spending steadily more to compensate farmers when pastures for their livestock go dry — and the cost could more than double in the coming decades, the Department of Agriculture said.
In a pair of reports, USDA’s Economic Research Service said climate change is driving up costs for the livestock forage disaster program and that the government can expect to routinely pay ranchers billions of dollars annually, depending on how sharply greenhouse gas emissions climb.
The reports, based on county-level modeling of temperatures and rising greenhouse gas emissions, come as persistent drought endures in parts of the Southwest and builds in the Northwest, although conditions are much improved in much of the Plains states compared to a year or more ago.
The sometimes spotty nature of drought conceals a longer-term trend toward more dry periods than wet ones, and toward especially severe droughts when they do occur.
