JACKSON - Mississippi farmers whose crops were devastated by last fall's tropical storms could get federal disaster aid under a spending measure approved Wednesday by the U.S. Senate.
The Senate voted 59-35 to set aside $3.1 billion for direct payments to farmers and ranchers who suffered weather related losses in 2001 and 2002. The aid package is a part of multibillion-dollar spending bill winding its way through Congress.
In Mississippi, the total weather related damage to crops in 2002 was estimated at $300 million - cutting the total value of crop production in the state by one-third.
Tropical storms caused much of the loss. The heavy rains delayed harvests, caused a loss in yield quality, and some fields were washed away.
"We had record cotton and soybean crops coming along and that was just washed away," said Rickey Gray, deputy commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce. "Disaster payments are particularly needed for the future of crop production in Mississippi."
Cotton producers in the state lost $175 million. The average yield in 2002 had been estimated to be 1,000 pounds of cotton per acre. But now, the yield is estimated at 820 pounds per acre, said Bill Herndon, interim head of the Agricultural Economics Department at Mississippi State University.
"Coupled with the very low commodity prices, this is as bad as it's going to get," Herndon said. "Some farmers are just hanging it up."
Wednesday's spending package was proposed by Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee and of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee.
A more generous measure proposed by Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., that would have set aside $5.9 billion for farm relief, was defeated 39-57 by the Republican-controlled Senate. The Senate approved $6 billion for weather related disasters last session, but the appropriations bill it was attached to stalled in the House.
Cochran said his bill would allow farmers who qualify to receive the money within a few weeks. "The farmers are hurting now," Cochran said.
To qualify for aid, a farmer must be registered for subsidies under the current farm bill. He also must live in a county declared a disaster area in one of those years or prove that his losses exceed 35 percent of his total production.
In 2002, about 85 percent of U.S. counties were declared a disaster area by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 2001, 50 percent of all U.S. counties were declared disaster areas because of natural disasters.
Much of the $3.1 billion in aid would be targeted for producers of farm program crops such as cotton, soybean and rice - all major crops for Mississippi farmers.
"This is not going to put any money in their pocket, but it will pay some bills and they can make it until next year," Herndon said.
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