| WASHINGTON (AP) - Farmers who produce everything from
avocados to milk would benefit from a $3.5 billion package of
election-year aid.
House and Senate negotiators on Thursday put the money in an $80
billion appropriations bill that will fund operations of the Agriculture
Department and Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) over the
next year.
The legislation includes $1.6 billion for payments to farmers whose
crops were destroyed by drought or damaged by disease, $490 million to
livestock producers who lost pasture to this summer's dry weather and $473
million for dairy prices to compensate for falling milk prices.
Most farmers have enjoyed good weather this year, but several states,
including Nebraska, Kansas, Texas and Georgia, have been going through a
severe drought. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman has estimated that $2.2
billion in disaster payments would be needed to compensate for losses that
are not covered by insurance.
Other provisions in the bill:
-$138 million in subsidies to apple and potato farmers.
-$58 million to compensate citrus growers for diseased trees.
-$20 million for cranberry growers.
-$20 million for wool and mohair producers.
The aid comes on top of $15 billion in farm assistance that Congress
approved earlier this year to compensate farmers for low commodity prices
and to expand the use of federally subsidies crop insurance.
Because the dairy payments are targeted to smaller producers, nearly a
quarter of the money is expected to go to producers in Wisconsin. ``It
will provide substantial assistance to every producer,'' said Sen. Herb
Kohl, D-Wis.
Kohl is the lead Senate Democratic negotiator on the spending bill.
Also included in the agricultural spending bill is a measure that would
require foreign avocado producers to help pay for promoting sales of the
fruit in the United States.
The avocado program would be funded by a mandatory fee on domestic
producers and on importers of avocados from Chile, Mexico and elsewhere.
Sugar growers will benefit from a provision that guarantees that they
can continue to forfeit sugar to the government in repayment of federal
price-support loans. Nearly a million tons of sugar has been dumped on the
government this year because of falling prices for the commodity. |