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Ag disaster money coming
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP)--Farmers and ranchers in South Dakota should be getting federal checks later this year for livestock and crop losses caused in the last couple of years by drought, heat and blizzards. Sign-up for livestock losses began Sept. 10, and the sign-up started Oct. 15 for crop losses. Congress passed a $3.9 billion disaster-aid package in May. The aid provides a death loss of $250 per animal and feed losses of $10 per head, covering losses from drought, blizzards and the heat that killed hundreds of cattle in northeastern South Dakota last summer, said Sen. John Thune, R-SD. The bill covers losses from either 2005 or 2006 or the first few months of this year, he said. The Farm Service Agency already has authorized about $1.3 million in disaster assistance for 10 western South Dakota counties and two in eastern South Dakota. Thune said he hoped the aid would be made available by the end of this year. Thune and other senators are pressing for a $5 billion permanent disaster program in the new farm bill. He said his proposal would make disaster aid available retroactively to May. The senator said the disaster program would require crop and forage insurance. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-SD, said he favors a permanent disaster program in principle but added that there isn't enough money to fund both the disaster program and the current level of crop payments. He said he favors finding the disaster aid money by limiting commodity payments to large producers. Thune said he, too, favors payment limits but adds that there will have to be compromise on the issue with Southern state interests in order to get a farm bill through the Senate. Date: 10/31/07
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