Colorado's snowpack is getting closer to normal after an unseasonably cool and wet April. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service said Monday that snow surveys on May 1 showed the statewide snowpack percentage climbed to 83 percent of the median, up from 74 percent on April 1.

Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry on Monday asking the committee to add funding for livestock disaster assistance programs to the 2013 Farm Bill.

CSU will receive almost $900,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop approaches and technology to help farmers adapt to drought, the federal agency said Thursday. The $883,000 grant comes from $5.3 million in conservation innovation grants also given to universities in South Dakota, Texas and Florida as well as American Indian tribes in multiple states.

USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service is helping to mitigate the impacts of drought across the nation. With good drought plans and conservation systems, farmers and ranchers are better equipped to manage dry and other extreme weather. NRCS hydrologists are predicting continued drought for the western part of the nation and other states may also be facing dry conditions.

Farmers consume nearly 90 percent of Colorado's water, and Colorado State University is offering ways for them to use it more efficiently. A grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to CSU's Center for Agricultural Energy will pay for reduced-cost irrigation efficiency audits for growers with center pivot systems.

Climate change could have a drastic and harmful effect on U.S. agriculture, forcing farmers and ranchers to alter where they grow crops and costing them millions of dollars in additional costs to tackle weeds, pests and diseases that threaten their operations, a sweeping government report said Tuesday. An analysis released by the Agriculture Department said that although U.S.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack designated 30 Colorado counties as part of a primary natural disaster area due to a recent drought. This disaster incident period began Nov. 1, 2012 and is continuing.