During this summer's prolonged severe drought, about 180 Callaway County farmers have applied for federal and state aid to help provide water to livestock.
The deadline for applying for the state program was Aug. 6 but the federal program is still open to new applicants. The federal application must be processed before late September.
Darrell Campbell, Callaway County director of the Farm Service Agency, said federal and state governments are operating separate relief programs to help farmers with emergency water needs.
Campbell said the federal program the Callaway County Farm Service Agency administers is working closely with the Callaway County Soil and Water Conservation District, which is administering the state program. Both agencies are located in the same building at 4549 State Road H near Fulton.
Campbell said many farmers can't wait for approval of government assistance. "They tell me aid would be great but they must act now because their livestock need water. So they are going ahead with what they need to do," Campbell said.
Matt Blansett, technician with the Callaway County Soil and Water Conservation District, said Friday 34 applications from farmers for emergency water projects have been approved by the county board of directors of the Soil and Water Conservation District.
"They have applied for the assistance, we have completed the field inspection of the proposed project and the board has approved the requests. During the last week, we have approved more water assistance requests than we did for all other projects for the entire year," Blansett said.