The N.C. Agricultural Drought Recovery Program will be administered statewide through local Soil and Water Conservation district offices beginning May 1. It was made possible by a $6 million grant from the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission.

"This grant makes it possible for more than 1,000 farmers and farm operations to restore some of the damage from last summer's severe drought and to prepare, so the next long, hot and dry summer doesn't do as much damage," said Billy Ray Hall, president of the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center.

The Rural Center worked with the General Assembly's Joint Select Committee on Agriculture Drought Response, the Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, several state agencies and other agricultural interests to design the program and arrange funding. The Division of Soil and Water Conservation, which will administer the program, is part of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Others participating in the program design were the N.C. Department of Agriculture, North Carolina Grange, N.C. Farm Bureau, N.C. State University Agricultural Extension Service, N.C. Foundation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, U.S. Department of Agriculture, N.C. Soil and Water Conservation Commission and Agricultural Advancement Consortium.

Rep. Ray Rapp, co-chairman of the legislative committee, said a bill seeking an additional $6 million to extend the program to more farmers will be submitted to the General Assembly in May.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture last year designated 85 of North Carolina's 100 counties as natural disaster areas. As of April 8, 80 counties remained under drought conditions with the other 20 considered abnormally dry.