Wednesday, September 6, 2006
CONTACT: Barry E. Piatt
or Brenden Timpe
PHONE: 202-224-2551
DELEGATION URGES AG SECRETARY TO DECLARE NORTH DAKOTA FEDERAL AG DISASTER AREA
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- Senators Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad and Congressman Earl Pomeroy called on the Secretary of Agriculture to clear the way for emergency loan programs for North Dakota producers by designating the state a primary agricultural disaster area.
“We’ve visited with farmers across North Dakota and walked their fields. They’ve been battered by bad weather and beaten by skyrocketing fuel prices. They need our help and they need it now,” the delegation said in a joint statement.
In a letter to Johanns the delegation calls on the USDA to designate all 53 North Dakota counties as primary agricultural disaster counties. Doing so opens the door for farmers and ranchers in disaster counties to apply for emergency loan programs through USDA.
With rainfall less than 20 percent of normal in parts of North Dakota, and temperatures more than 90 degrees on at least 23 days in July, many producers face dramatic crop losses, while ranchers experiencing feed and water shortages are selling off their herds. Last year, natural disasters in North Dakota prevented farmers from planting more than a million acres.
“North Dakota has been hit hard by a series of devastating natural disasters. The Administration needs to respond by supporting comprehensive disaster assistance. But in the meantime, they should approve this designation,” the delegation said. “Unless the Administration takes action immediately we will begin to see farm family after farm family put their homes and livelihoods on the auction block. We can't let that happen.”
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