WASHINGTON, DC -- Today in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Collin Peterson (MN) and Congressman Earl Pomeroy (ND) introduced legislation designed to provide some relief for the farm crisis regions of northwestern Minnesota and northeastern North Dakota.
"This legislation doesn't answer all of the problems farmers in these areas are having to deal with, but it is a start," Peterson said. "These are the first places in the country that are experiencing the downsides of an inadequate safety net. Things are so bad that there are a number of farmers who won't be farming next year."
For counties that have been declared federal disasters in any three of the last five years, the bill would provide assistance in three categories. First, the bill extends a federal revenue insurance pilot program for the region allowing producers the option of protecting themselves against loss of crop input costs or production values. In addition, the bill would prevent the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) from using yields from crop years declared a disaster to determine the Actual Production History (APH).
Second, the bill would allow the Secretary of Agriculture to lift the current limits on marketing loans, and allow for a six month extension of marketing loans. The third category of assistance would amend the current emergency loan eligibility criteria to make it easier to meet the qualifying threshold in multi-year disaster areas.
"Farmers in the region have been hit hard by bad weather and poor prices," said Pomeroy. "This bill gives producers in disaster regions a break."