U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), chairman of the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, has joined with the panel’s ranking member U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) in seeking quicker support for struggling American agricultural producers.
The lawmakers specifically have asked Sonny Perdue, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), to hasten implementation of provisions in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, H.R. 1892, signed into law by the president on Feb. 9, to assist agriculture producers with recovering from recent disasters.
“We encourage the Department’s timely, transparent, and producer-friendly implementation of the disaster authorities and assistance recently provided in … the Bipartisan Budget Act,” the senators wrote in a March 5 letter to Secretary Perdue.
During 2017, the United States experienced a historic year of more than 200 weather and climate disasters with cumulative costs exceeding $1.5 trillion, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which tracked 16 separate billion-dollar disaster events, including three tropical cyclones, eight severe storms, a crop freeze and a wildfire. The damage to the American food production system from these disasters won’t fully be realized until later this year, according to the independent, nonprofit New Food Economy, which reported that the agriculture sector’s costs for the year could run upwards of $5 billion; other estimates say closer to $7 billion.
“In order to help agriculture producers recover from recent disasters, Secretary Perdue and the Agriculture Department now have additional tools and responsibilities” under the budget law, Sen. Roberts said in a joint statement with Sen. Stabenow. “We look forward to continue working closely with USDA as they implement disaster assistance and changes to permanent programs and risk management tools.”
“It is now up to USDA to move swiftly so our farmers can get the relief they need,” Stabenow added.
The lawmakers reiterated in their letter that the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) should allow producers reasonable time to evaluate and sign up for relief programs, and ensure they’re informed about required purchases of federal crop insurance coverage and related timetables. At the same time, the senators also expect that FSA “expeditiously and consistently” administer disaster assistance in line with previous disaster programs set up by the federal government.
Sens. Roberts and Stabenow also told Secretary Perdue that the Senate Agriculture Committee should stay informed regarding USDA’s progress toward implementing the law’s provisions, “as well as enhancements to risk management tools for cotton and dairy producers,” they wrote.