House Fulfills Promise to Rural America on Agriculture Disaster Assistance
Washington, DC,
March 23, 2007
The U.S. House of Representatives today passed a supplemental appropriations bill that included $3.7 billion for agriculture disaster assistance for farmers and ranchers who experienced losses in 2005-2007. 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 the United States Department of Agriculture (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. http://republicans-agriculture.house.gov ### |