Drought assistance 'all-hands-on-deck effort'

[August 24, 2012]  SPRINGFIELD -- Scherrie V. Giamanco, state executive director for the USDA Farm Service Agency in Illinois, says that as the drought continues to affect most of the country, thoughts and prayers are with the thousands of farm families who have been affected by this disaster.

President Obama has called the U.S. government's approach to drought assistance an "all-hands-on-deck effort" and has directed USDA and other federal agencies to find additional ways to help those affected by drought. To date, USDA has taken a wide variety of administrative actions that Giamanco wants to be sure Illinois farmers and ranchers know about.

First and foremost, USDA streamlined the disaster designation process that has allowed the agency to quickly, efficiently authorize emergency aid for producers, including Illinois, where 102 counties have been declared primary disaster areas for drought.

Earlier this summer, USDA lowered the interest rate for Farm Service Agency emergency loans from 3.75 percent to 2.25 percent and authorized emergency haying and grazing on additional lands enrolled in certain USDA conservation programs. The payment reduction for emergency haying and grazing of CRP land was also reduced from 25 percent to 10 percent.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack personally encouraged crop insurance companies to provide a short grace period for farmers on unpaid insurance premiums -- and all of the major crop insurance companies have agreed to do so.

In August, it was announced that the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Farm Service Agency are providing an additional $30 million nationwide to help producers move emergency water supplies and repair damaged lands.

President Obama and Vilsack traveled to Iowa to survey drought-stricken cropland and to announce that USDA intends to purchase up to $170 million in meat, poultry and farm-raised fish to help deliver additional relief for livestock producers.

Recently, changes were made to the crop insurance program to allow producers to plant cover crops this fall that can provide much needed forage to livestock.

The president has convened ongoing meetings of the White House Rural Council to ensure that all federal agencies are doing everything they can to help. For example, the Small Business Administration has worked to increase emergency lending for small businesses, farmers and ranchers, and the Department of Transportation is waiving certain requirements on commercial trucks, to get more drivers on the road in the relief effort.

According to Giamanco, the biggest challenge the president currently faces in carrying out the relief effort is the fact that the 2008 Farm Bill disaster assistance programs expired at the end of last year. These programs were implemented under Obama and prior to their expiration delivered more than 400,000 disaster assistance payments totaling more than $4 billion to U.S. farmers and ranchers.

Giamanco says that USDA's preference remains that drought assistance be enacted as part of a comprehensive, multiyear food, farm and jobs bill, to ensure that the USDA has tools to keep growing the rural economy, give more certainty to American farmers and ranchers, and provide help to producers in need.

Giamanco encourages any farmer or rancher with questions to contact their FSA office, because even with limited legal authority, USDA has worked hard to offer tools to help. For the latest information, farmers and ranchers can also visit USDA's drought website, www.usda.gov/drought.

"As the drought continues, President Obama, Secretary Vilsack and all of us at USDA won't stop looking for ways to help farmers and ranchers in this difficult time," Giamanco said.

[Text from file received from Illinois Farm Service Agency]