USDA Announces New Aid for Livetock Producers in Drought Areas

By CnAgri2012-08-23 19:46:18 Print

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made a series of announcements to help farmers, ranchers and businesses impacted by the most severe drought in 50 years. The secretary said the U.S. Department of Agriculture intends to file special provisions with the federal crop insurance program to allow haying or grazing of cover crops without impacting the insurability of planted 2013 spring crops, a move that can help provide much needed forage and feed this fall and winter for livestock producers.

In a separate step, Vilsack will modify emergency loans, allowing loans to be made earlier in the season helping livestock producers to offset increased feed costs and those who have liquidated herds.

"At the direction of the President, USDA continues to work as swiftly as possible to get help to America's farmers and ranchers by providing flexibility within existing programs, particularly those that assist livestock producers," said Vilsack.

He also designated 33 additional counties in 8 states as natural disaster areas-23 counties due to drought. In the past six weeks, USDA has designated 1,821 counties in 35 states as disaster areas-1,692 due to drought-while USDA officials have fanned out to more than a dozen drought-affected states as part of a total U.S. government effort to offer support and assistance to those impacted by the drought.

The changes announced by Secretary Vilsack will benefit America's livestock and crop producers alike by improving procedures and lessening requirements during a time of disaster.

For the 2013 crop year, USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA)-which manages and operates the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation-intends to file special provisions statements to allow haying or grazing of cover crops without impacting the insurability of planted 2013 spring crops. This flexibility will help farmers, if they choose, plant a cover crop without risking crop insurance coverage in 2013, providing much needed forage and feed this fall and winter.

In a separate announcement, USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) will make changes to the emergency loan program that will help producers obtain the loans earlier in the season. Previous to this change, emergency loan eligibility was based on crop losses that were determined after the production cycle; loan amounts were based on production during normal years.

With these changes, producers no longer are required to wait until the end of the production cycle to obtain a loan, benefiting livestock producers who need assistance today to help offset increased feed costs, as well as producers liquidating herds as a result of the drought.