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Farm Disaster Assistance Policy
A USDA
publication states that “Agricultural-related
disasters are quite common. One-half to two-thirds of
the counties have been designated as disaster areas
in the each of the past several years.” But much
federal disaster assistance is ad hoc, and is available
only when Congress makes a special appropriation.
This often means that assistance for disasters may
become available one, two, even three years after the
disaster occurred. This assistance can help compensate
farmers for previous losses, but does little to address
the immediate crisis and loss of income.
The ad hoc nature of disaster assistance also makes
it difficult for employees in the local Farm Service
Agency offices that administer the programs to keep
track of the programs, much less master their rules
and ensure that farmers get the assistance they are
entitled to.
When Congressional funding does come, it may come at
the expense of funding for other programs, such as the
popular Conservation Security Program, as happened last
fall.
Whatever the type of farmer, few regard the low-interest
Emergency Loans offered by USDA as sufficient to recover
from disaster losses. Many farmers have already maximized
the amount of debt they can finance, and simply cannot
take on any more debt.
Farmers in “niche markets,” such as organic
agriculture, may have difficulty obtaining coverage
for the premium prices they receive for their products.
Livestock producers, in particular, have few places
to turn to address the increased costs when forage and
feed crops are affected by flooding or drought, or when
animals are lost as a result of natural disaster. Farmers
may obtain assistance for grazing losses under the Livestock
Assistance Program or the Crop Disaster Program. But
they won’t receive compensation under those programs
for losses this year, at least not now. Those programs
are currently available and funded for losses in the
2003 and 2004 crop years.
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