SNOWE & COLLINS WORK TO ENSURE DISASTER RELIEF FUNDING FOR MAINE FARMERS

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Susan Collins are urging House-Senate conferees to ensure the Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 Homeland Security Appropriations Conference report include a Senate-passed amendment that will aid Maine farmers who have suffered significant losses due to extreme weather. Offered by Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) with the support of Snowe and Collins, the "Emergency Agricultural Disaster Assistance" amendment would authorize the Farm Service Agency to distribute federal relief for impacted crops. The House included no provision for emergency funding in their appropriations bill. The FY 2005 Homeland Security Appropriations bill is currently in House-Senate conference.

"American farmers and ranchers across our nation - from Maine to Oregon to Minnesota to Mississippi - had losses in 2003 and 2004 as a result of freezes, hurricanes, floods, droughts, and other natural disasters. In many areas, multiple years of drought has decimated row crops and forage and has reduced water supplies available for livestock," a bipartisan letter to the conferees read. "In other regions, farmers are experiencing crop destruction and reduced yields and quality due to flooding and an increased incidence of crop pests and diseases. Financial assistance is needed now if the economic ruin of farms, ranches and rural businesses is to be averted."

Under the Senate-adopted amendment, Maine farmers could receive up to $9 million in disaster relief under two of the three programs in the legislation:

I. Crop Disaster & Quality Loss Assistance - Maine to receive approximately $8.1 Million ($2.464 Billion Estimated for the U.S.)

• Potatoes - Maine farmers to receive approximately $6.5 Million

• Blueberries - Maine farmers to receive approximately $1.1 Million

• Hay - Maine farmers to receive approximately $500,000

II. Tree Assistance Program - Maine to receive approximately $ 1 Million ($20 Million Estimated for the U.S.)

• Provides compensation to producers for the loss of apple trees as a result of weather related disasters. Snowe and Collins previously wrote the United States Department of Agriculture to request funding for Maine apple farmers under the Tree Assistance Program.

"The Senate-approved emergency aid will provide Maine farmers with critical relief after suffering at the hands of mother nature," said Snowe and Collins in a joint statement. "Severe weather this season has caused significant losses in Maine's potato, blueberry, and apple crops. This funding will help our farmers through these difficult times."

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