Source: Delta Farm Press 8/22/2012

There's a different sort of drought plaguing California, the nation's largest farm state. It's $38 billion agricultural sector is facing a scarcity of labor. "This year is the worst it's been, ever," said Craig Underwood, who farms everything from strawberries to lemons to peppers, carrots, and turnips in Ventura County.

House GOP leaders are readying a one-year extension of farm and nutrition programs that includes disaster aid for drought-affected farmers, lawmakers said Thursday.

Following passage by the U.S. House and Senata, President Obama recently signed off on H.R. 4348, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21). The bill includes reauthorization of surface transportation programs, an extension of reduced student loan rates and a reauthorization of the flood insurance program.

With drought affecting more than half of the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has named more than 1,000 counties in 26 states as natural-disaster areas, the largest such declaration ever.