ND Department of Agriculture Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MARCH 27, 2008

JOHNSON URGES APPROVAL OF PERMANENT DISASTER AID

MANDAN – Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson says a permanent disaster program must remain an integral part of the new Farm Bill package.

“Thanks largely to the efforts of Sen. Kent Conrad, permanent disaster assistance remains in the Farm Bill proposal before Congress,” Johnson said Thursday, at a Farm Bill meeting, called by Conrad, in Mandan.

The president of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), Johnson has long pushed for a permanent disaster assistance program. The members of NASDA, the agriculture commissioners, secretaries and directors of the 50 states and four territories, have unanimously endorsed the concept.

“A permanent program will cost less in the long run than the ad-hoc assistance programs we have had during the past decade and longer,” Johnson said, noting that agricultural disasters occur somewhere in the United States every year.

“Relying on ad-hoc assistance has proven to be inefficient, unreliable and unpredictable – producers are only now getting disaster assistance payments for losses suffered in 2005, 2006 or 2007. It’s simply unacceptable to continue down this path,” Johnson said.

The permanent disaster program would provide disaster relief for all producers who purchase crop insurance or participate in the Non-insured Assistance Program (NAP).

“The program complements crop insurance by providing an incentive for producers to buy increased coverage,” Johnson said. “It also includes a livestock indemnity program for disaster-related livestock deaths, and is based on ‘whole-farm revenue,’ providing assistance only when a farm’s total revenue falls below the determined revenue guarantee.”

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MEDIA: For more information, please call Patrice Lahlum at (701) 239-7210 or plahlum@nd.gov or Jeff Knudson at (701) 328-4764 or joknudson@nd.gov.