Crop damage assistance extended
For the first time local farmers and nurserymen devastated by the freeze in April and the drought which continued through the summer will be able to apply for the approximately $3 billion in federal disaster assistance which was made available in May of this year in the ‘U.S. Troop Readiness’ bill.
Previously, under the “U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007” that President Bush signed into law in May of this year, disaster assistance was available only to those affected before February 28, 2007. The extension, announced on Dec. 18, will open funds made available under that law for disasters occurring through Dec. 31, 2007. This extension encompasses Tennessee farmers affected by the recent freeze and drought for the first time.
In October of this year, Congressman Lincoln Davis drafted a letter with the support of the Tennessee Congressional delegation asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support legislation extending the current cut-off date for livestock and crop disaster assistance to Dec. 31, 2007. The extension of that cut-off date was granted in an omnibus appropriations package, which passed the House earlier this month and is expected to become law.
Davis said he has felt all along that Tennessee farmers deserved a chance to apply for these funds, particularly considering the amount of damage the early freeze and drought caused this year.
‘We can and we must do more for our farmers, who have suffered this year from freeze and drought with no end in sight,’ said Congressman Lincoln Davis. ‘This extension is a good first step, and I will continue fighting to make sure Tennessee farmers get all the help that they need and deserve.’
The Appropriations bill provides funds for a Crop Disaster Program, a Livestock Compensation Program, a Livestock Indemnity Program, an Emergency Conservation Program and a Dairy Disaster Assistance Program. While the announcement does not provide additional dollars or guarantee funding for Tennessee farmers, they will for the first time have the opportunity to compete for funds made available earlier this year through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Local farmers and nurserymen say this is good news, but are concerned about the availability of the funds and the application process. George Smartt, who is involved in cattle, chicken, grape and nursery production, noted that some federal assistance programs required that growers have the federally funded crop insurance.
‘If this is not just limited to those who have federal insurance that will be fine,’ Smartt said. ‘Earlier they were restricting it to the people who had the government sponsored and subsidized crop insurance, which has been very poorly received around here. Very few people who claimed a loss were granted anything. But if it’s open to everyone who had damage, it’s certainly good news.’
Smartt said he had received some assistance under earlier legislation, but was cautious about being too encouraged until he could learn more about the program.
‘Anything I qualified for earlier was drought assistance based on decreasing cattle numbers and soforth back in ’05 and ’06,’ Smartt said. ‘But it sounds like from what I’m hearing, this could really be a good thing for Warren County. It’ll be a good Christmas present as long as it’s something that’s readily accessible and doesn’t take us six months of filling out forms,’ Smartt added. ‘It’s hard not to be skeptical at this stage of the game because the Grinch that stole Christmas is alive and well.’
Warren County Extension Agent Dale Beaty also said he would have to know more about the program before he could really say if it would benefit Warren County growers, noting that Tennessee farmers would be competing with a number of other states for the money, and a lot would depend on whether there would be any additional funds.
‘That will be the factor,’ Beaty said. ‘That will allow us disaster assistance on the freeze and disaster assistance for the crop losses this summer, as well as cattlemen not having any feed. But you’re also talking about Georgia, Alabama, I think Mississippi was pretty dry this summer, and then the Carolinas, so again, without additional money, I don’t know how much it will help.’
County Executive John Pelham said he had been working with Davis, along with House Agriculture Committee chairman Collin Peterson, both of whom were instrumental in getting the legislation passed. Peterson actually traveled to Warren County with Davis to meet with local farmers and nurserymen earlier this year to discuss the situation.
‘This is something that we were really trying to focus on,’ Pelham said. ‘I talked to Congressman Peterson about this during my visit to Washington.’
Pelham said he was especially gratified the extension goes through the end of this year, since that will cover the freeze and the drought and basically help all the farmers and nurserymen in the county who suffered crop loss and damage.
‘By incorporating it through the entire year and bringing the drought in is going to hopefully provide assistance for our cattle farmers, as far as loss of hay and cattle they’ve had to sell off,’ Pelham said, ‘and also for our grain farmers, soybeans, corn and soforth.’
At this point, Pelham says there is still some work to be done.
‘Now that we’re aware of this we’re going to have to find out the procedure to apply,’ Pelham said. ‘We’re going to have to find out what department is going to be administering this locally, who our farmers need to go through. We need to get that information from Congressman Davis’ office as soon as we can, and we need to make that information available to our farmers as soon as possible.’