Producers Wait for Payments


The USDA announced Texas farmers and ranchers will have to wait until the fall to receive money from $3 billion provided for crop losses after drought conditions.
Producers are unhappy with the announcement because of the crop losses they are seeing from the droughts. The Supplement Revenue Assistance program is a part of the 2008 farm bill approved by congress totaling in $290 billion.
The program reimburses farmers for 60 percent of losses, but these payments will not be sent out until October or November. The losses from the 2009 harvest will be paid in 2010.
U.S. Sen. John Coryn wrote a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack on behalf of the producers stating, “These producers have done all that USDA has asked of them in order to prove their dire conditions and confirm eligibility, and yet they wait.”
Reports say Texas ranchers lost $569 million from November to March. 167 Texas counties have been declared states of disaster because of fire damage from the drought.
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