Feds Renew Funding For UNL Drought Center

Lincoln, Nebraska, Dec. 16, 2020 — The National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln recently launched a new three-year, $2.4 million cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

 Since the center was founded 25 years ago, the USDA has funded research and projects that have led to deeper understandings of how droughts behave, how Americans can better prepare for them, how they can best recover from them and more.

 Under the new agreement, the drought center will continue to take a leading role in the production, web hosting and distribution of the U.S. Drought Monitor. The monitor — available at https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu — is a weekly synopsis of drought conditions across the U.S. and its territories. It examines more than 50 data sources and compares them with on-the-ground sources. Its Drought Monitor has triggered billions of dollars in federal aid and low-interest loans, including for the USDA Livestock Forage Disaster Program. Federal, state, tribal, local and basin-level decision makers use it to detect emerging droughts.

 “The USDA, along with NOAA, was supportive of the NDMC and its mission right from the start,” drought center director Mark Svoboda said. “Our cooperative agreements with the USDA have improved efforts to better understand and respond to drought across the country and to tailor information and tools to the needs of USDA staff and the ranchers, producers and constituents they work with. The latest agreement will continue that collaborative process.”

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