La. Farm Bureau Asking for Disaster Declaration
By Andy Brown
Louisiana Farm Bureau News
The week of August 21st brought many of you excessive rain. For others, you have been suffering a year of severe drought. Some have faced both. We are asking USDA for help.
We want you to know that your Farm Bureau is aware of these situations and has been working to secure a disaster declaration from USDA for these events. On Aug. 29th, President Harper asked Commissioner Strain and the LA Cotton & Grain Association to join LFBF on an official letter to Governor Edwards, requesting the Governor to submit a request to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for a secretarial disaster declaration. That letter is attached. This came on the heels of a similar request two weeks prior related to drought.
Since our request of the Governor, we have also worked with Congresswoman Julia Letlow on this issue and she submitted a similar letter to Governor Edwards on September 2nd. LFBF has heard from numerous other congressional members and state legislators as well, voicing their concern for Louisiana farmers and looking for ways to help. Louisiana House Agriculture Committee Chairman Jack McFarland sent the most recent letter echoing those concerns. Unfortunately, at this time, a disaster declaration is all that can be done. We want you to know that is in process.
We hope we will soon have that designation, which in the short term opens up emergency loan options through USDA. However, what more of you are likely interested in is the likelihood of additional direct disaster assistance like WHIP+ or now labeled Emergency Relief Program (ERP). To achieve this, Congress will have to act. ERP is an “ad hoc” disaster program, meaning there is not standing money for this program for 2022. We are still working on USDA-FSA in D.C. to get all of the 2020/2021 ERP phases out, a year after it was approved. I mention that just to bring to reality that any chance at disaster assistance won’t come to fruition any time soon. But, LFBF is engaged in D.C. to find an avenue for disaster assistance.
As you and your members continue to wade through harvest season, LFBF would encourage you to make sure you are discussing your options with your crop insurance agent before removing any crop/commodity from the field. We also encourage you to discuss these issues at the parish level and begin to think about ideas through policy development that could help us shape a better safety net looking ahead to the 2023 Farm Bill.
Please contact any member of the Commodity Department if you have questions and we will continue to advocate on your behalf looking for ways to mitigate some of these unfortunate losses.