House Approves Agriculture Disaster Assistance

News Date March 26, 2007

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a supplemental appropriations last week that included $3.7 billion for agriculture disaster assistance for farmers and ranchers who experienced losses in 2005-2007. "This disaster package will finally provide some relief to farmers and ranchers who have been waiting for Congress to act for more than a year," said House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson. 

While the agriculture disaster assistance package provides much needed assistance for farmers and ranchers, Peterson worked closely with House leadership to create a program that was disciplined and fiscally restrained. Producers can apply for a disaster payment for only one of the three years covered in the proposal, and for the first time, only farmers who had insured their crop are eligible for payments. 

The agriculture disaster assistance package includes assistance for farmers who lost 35% or more of their crop in one of the covered years and for livestock producers in counties that experienced USDA designated natural disasters during the covered time. 

The need for agriculture disaster assistance is clear and pressing. Natural disasters including hurricanes, floods, droughts, wildfires, heat waves, blizzards and other weather-related events caused serious damage to crops and livestock in 2005, 2006, and 2007. More than 80 percent of all U.S. counties have been declared primary or contiguous disaster areas by USDA during the past three years. 

A coalition of more than 30 farm and allied organizations strongly urged Congress to pass disaster assistance last year and has voiced strong support for the agriculture disaster assistance provisions in the supplemental appropriations bill. (Contact: Jennifer Yezak)