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Feds may compensate for heat, flood losses
ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP)--There's an even chance that Congress will approve assistance by the end of the year for farmers who lost cattle during July's heat wave, according to Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, a member of the House Agriculture Committee. More than 2,800 cattle died in Brown, Marshall, Spink and Beadle counties. The toll included 1,500 head in Brown, 550 in Marshall, 530 in Spink and 255 in Beadle. Most of the animals were in feedlots. Officials have said the losses could total $3 million. Herseth Sandlin said the potential disaster relief bill also could include money for farmers whose planting was delayed last spring by flooding. Farmers can get crop insurance, but there's no such protection available from private or government sources for those who suffered the July livestock, said Herseth Sandlin. The House passed its version of the 2007 farm bill on July 27. It's supposed to be fully approved by Oct. 1. "That might be a stretch," she said. "I can't predict what the Senate might do." Herseth Sandlin said the House bill has reforms designed to curtail abuse of the subsidy program, which provides money to farmers when market prices are too low. The House version retains the subsidy program as a safety net. Getting rid of it likely would lead to more outsourcing of the U.S. food industry, she said. One farmer, Larry Stroschein of rural Mansfield, told Herseth Sandlin over the weekend that he'd like the Conservation Reserve Program changed to allow haying once every three years. The program pays farmers to keep land out of production. He said haying would not hurt wildlife or the environment. Stroschein added that CRP landowners often have asked the government to allow haying on program land, especially during drought. "If the government wants us to keep land in CRP, haying would be a little carrot for us," he said. Herseth Sandlin said routine haying once every three years would be difficult to get approved without first doing a pilot program to study the impacts. Date: 8/29/07
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