Drought conditions have prompted the county to declare an agricultural emergency, which could free up federal monies for ranchers who have lost forage. Marin does not yet meet the requirements for the aid, but may when conditions are re-evaluated at the end of the summer.
In June, the county agriculture department surveyed over 30 ranchers representing 35 percent of the total 154,000 acres of rangeland, finding forage losses were around 46 percent. That’s not quite…