wfn.org | Making hay: PDA grant helps farmers nourish rought-beleaguered livestock

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #7438 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

26-September-2002
02364

Making hay

PDA grant helps farmers nourish rought-beleaguered livestock 

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) has provided $50,000 to
Hay Grain Lift 2002, a program designed to help sustain livestock in
drought-stricken Nebraska.

All four of the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s presbyteries serving Nebraska are
working with a broad-based coalition of churches, farm-service agencies and
community action groups to locate feed and provide help to farmers and
ranchers who need it.

"The funds are being used to transport donated hay, pay the cost of baling,
and, in some cases, to purchase hay at reduced cost," says Stan Hankins,
PDA's associate for U.S. disaster response. "Many farmers in the Midwest are
saying that the current situation is worse than the 1950s drought, and is
approaching 1930s Dust Bowl conditions."

The money - $30,000 from the One Great Hour of Sharing offering and $20,000
from Presbyterian contributions for U.S. disaster response- is desperately
needed in Nebraska, where farmers have already had to tap hay reserves
normally earmarked for winter to keep their livestock alive through the
summer. 

"Because of the drought, the pastures have dried up, and ranchers (and
farmers) had to start feeding hay to their livestock as early as July," says
the Rev. Robert Houser, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Central
Nebraska. "If they can't find hay it will put some ranchers or farmers out of
business, while others are looking to sell off their entire herds. ... It's a
means to try to help them hang on."

Houser points out that Central Nebraska presbytery, in partnership with
Carlisle Presbytery in Pennsylvania, sponsored a hay lift program of its own
two years ago.	

Some parts of Nebraska have had no measurable rain for periods of up to 60
consecutive days, according to Hankins, who says a crop insurance adjuster
appraised one farmer's 900 acres of corn as "a zero yield."

"Another farmer reports that his hay production was as low as 25 percent of
normal," Hankins adds, "(and) what little growth did occur is now infested
with grasshoppers."

So far there have been more than 400 requests for more than 4,500 tons of hay
in Nebraska, says Houser, a PDA disaster-response-team member.

"The grain is partly for the same reason," he says. "Part of it is because of
the quality of hay that we're able to provide. They need something to
supplement it."

The 42 churches in the Presbytery of Central Nebraska have been encouraged to
select a Sunday in September to promote "Hay Day" and take up a special
offering for Hay Grain Lift 2002, says Houser. 

"At least from my personal knowledge, probably about a fourth of our churches
have at least promoted the 'Hay Day' in some way by putting the information
before their churches," he says. "How many of them have actually received an
offering, we don't have an idea yet."

Other faith groups involved in the relief effort are the United Methodist
Church; the United Church of Christ (UCC); and the Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ). The community groups involved include the Orphan Grain
Train; the Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska; and Interchurch
Ministries of Nebraska. 

Contributions to Hay Grain Lift 2002 can be made online at
http://pcusa.org/pda/givenow/accounts.html, sent through normal
mission-giving channels, or mailed to Central Receiving Service, Section 300,
Louisville, KY 40289. The account number is 9-2000015.

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