By Jamie Martin
Senator John Hoeven, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, recently secured a commitment from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to prioritise the Farm Service Agency (FSA) staff and field offices, ensuring crucial support for American farmers and ranchers.
The senator emphasized the importance of the $33.5 billion in agriculture disaster aid he helped secure, which provides farmers and ranchers with a critical bridge as Congress works on enhancing crop insurance and updating reference prices in the upcoming farm bill.
Hoeven thanked Secretary Rollins for delivering $10 billion in market-based disaster assistance and continues collaborating with her to advance the $21 billion in weather-related aid. Secretary Rollins confirmed that USDA’s application process for the weather-based assistance will open soon.
“We have to make sure we’re getting it done for our farmers and our ranchers every single day. We want to work together to find savings, but we have to know that we’re still going to deliver the service that keeps our family farms and ranches going, to the benefit of every single American,” Hoeven stated.
“We appreciate Secretary Rollins making it a priority to fully-staff and keep open FSA offices. These front-line FSA officers are the ones who work directly with our farmers and ranchers and help provide the service they deserve.”
“We secured $33.5 billion to help our producers with challenges, whether it's markets, whether it's prices, and certainly always the weather none of which they control. Secretary Rollins worked to get out the $10 billion in market-based disaster agriculture aid within 90 days, with North Dakota producers having already received about half a billion dollars from that tranche. We want to continue working together to implement the $21 billion weather-based assistance and we appreciate USDA’s commitment to begin that process in the coming weeks,” Hoeven added.
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