Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Mark Dayton today signed a letter with Senator Norm Coleman, urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide Minnesota with emergency funding to respond to the bovine tuberculosis (TB) outbreak. Federal regulations require USDA to immediately destroy any TB-infected herd and to reimburse ranchers for their losses, based on an appraisal of the herd’s market value. Minnesota’s fifth TB-infected herd was diagnosed in December.

“A TB-positive cattle herd threatens every other rancher in Minnesota,” said Dayton. “USDA must act swiftly to contain any further outbreaks and to compensate farmers for their devastating losses.”

After quarantining Minnesota's fifth TB-infected herd in mid-December, USDA told the owners that, due to lack of available funds, it could neither provide compensation nor allow the cattle to be destroyed for 30 to 60 days. By January 20th, the owners had lost $43,000 in cattle feed costs, leaving the family farm on the verge of bankruptcy. And still, USDA informed the ranchers that there would be further delays.

Fortunately, Dayton was able to help the herd owners, by contacting an administrator at the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). APHIS quickly released emergency funding, and the three owners were compensated for their 1,012-head cattle herd.

In order to prevent such delays—and the resulting financial hardships for farmers—in the future, Dayton and Coleman have urged Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns to allocate more federal funding.

The full text of the Senators’ letter is below.

January 26, 2006

Dear Secretary Johanns:

We write to thank you for USDA’s efforts to eliminate bovine tuberculosis (TB) in Minnesota and ask for your continued diligence in supporting the State of Minnesota’s efforts to return its cattle to TB-free status.

In particular, we would like to acknowledge Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Administrator Ron DeHaven for releasing urgently needed funds to indemnify the owners of Minnesota's fifth infected herd last Friday, January 20th. Dr. DeHaven's quick work was a welcome lifeline to the three ranchers who had suffered more than $43,000 in losses due to bureaucratic delays, nearly driving their farm into bankruptcy. It is imperative that federal funding for future depopulation and indemnification efforts be made available to Minnesota's affected producers in a timely fashion.

Due to the number of recent detections of TB in Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Arizona, we understand that APHIS has exhausted all available funds for the indemnification of farmers with TB-infected herds. The latest efforts made by APHIS to find the funding needed to indemnify the Brobst-Hellwig-Kenner herd through redirected funds is much appreciated, but with 26 herds currently quarantined across the country, it is clear APHIS requires emergency funds to carry out its indemnification responsibilities. We understand an emergency request is under consideration at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and we ask you to strongly support its timely approval.

Furthermore, it is important that USDA provide the support needed by the Minnesota Board of Animal Health in the epidemiologic investigation and field activities associated with infected and exposed herds. Minnesota’s cattle industry supplies thousands of jobs across the state and billions of dollars to the economy, so this investigation needs to be expeditiously completed to put Minnesota on the path to TB-free status.

Again, thank you for your attention to this very important matter to Minnesota’s farming community.

Sincerely,

U.S. Senator Mark Dayton

U.S. Senator Norm Coleman

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