Since the National Drought Mitigation Center's founding in 1995, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been one of the center's main supporters and collaborators. In fall 2022, the NDMC agreed to an additional one-year, $1.325 million cooperative agreement with the USDA's Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) that will address drought monitoring and much more through a series of projects.
This cooperative agreement provides an opportunity to support and enhance the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) and integrate the objectives of the USDA and the NDMC. It facilitates the development of new tools, outreach products and research that will provide stakeholders with valuable information to address drought-related issues and enhance drought resilience. This project also enables the NDMC to increase the availability and accessibility of USDM data and introduce new functionalities to the USDM in accordance with USDM users.