The US Senate has approved an emergency agriculture assistance amendment to the farm bill that will provide the nation’s apple growers with US$100m in direct ad-hoc assistance.
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Specifically, the Senate adopted an amendment offered by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) that allocates US$2.4bn in emergency farm aid, including US$100m in assistance to offset a portion of the devastating losses apple growers sustained in marketing the 2000 apple crop.
“Far too many of our nation’s apple growers are being pushed ever deeper into financial crisis due to adverse market conditions beyond their control,” said US Apple Association (USApple) President and CEO Kraig R. Naasz, whose group supported the Senate’s approval of
the apple assistance amendment. “We are extremely appreciative of Sen. Max Baucus’ efforts, along with our industry’s many allies in the Senate, to provide this much-needed assistance to America’s apple growers.”
The Senate in July 2001 approved legislation to provide the nation’s apple growers with US$150m in direct market loss assistance payments, as part of a US$7.4bn fiscal 2001 supplemental farm aid bill for 2000 crop losses. However, the final version of the
supplemental farm aid bill adopted by Congress was trimmed to US$5.5bn and did not contain the US$150m apple market loss assistance provision.
Correspondingly, the House of Representatives last year approved US$150m in market loss assistance for apple growers as part of the fiscal 2002 agricultural appropriations bill. However, since the Senate’s version of the legislation did not contain such a provision, the final agricultural spending bill adopted by Congress split the difference between the House and Senate versions and provided US$75m in assistance for apple growers.
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By GlobalData“We greatly appreciate the efforts of our industry’s allies in the Senate to restore the apple grower assistance lost during last year’s congressional session-ending spending negotiations,” said Naasz. “Given its previous support of efforts to help our nation’s apple
growers, we hope the House of Representatives will also endorse this much-needed assistance as part of the farm bill.”
The Senate is expected to conclude its consideration of the farm bill prior to the President’s Day congressional recess. The US House of Representatives passed its version of the farm bill last fall. The many differences between the House and Senate versions of this legislation, including the apple market loss assistance provision, will need to be reconciled before the farm bill can be sent to President Bush for his signature.
America’s apple growers are experiencing the worst economic losses in more than 70 years, having lost nearly US$1.7bn since 1996, including an estimated US$700m over the past two years, according to US Department of Agriculture statistics.
