Quality Loss Adjustment Program To Assist Local Area Farmers
After securing $1.5 billion for farmers facing crop losses due to extreme weather and pushing for more than a year to get the relief into the hands of Montana farmers, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., has announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture Quality Loss Adjustment Program, which will finally provide relief to producers who suffered crop quality losses in 2018 and 2019.
“I’ve been pushing USDA bureaucrats for more than a year to protect get this critical support into the hands of farmers in Northeastern Montana, and I’m pleased to announce that relief is finally on the way,” Tester said in a press release. “These independent producers aren’t just the backbone of our state’s economy or our nation’s food supply-they are the bedrock of our way of life in rural America. So while USDA is a year late in providing this disaster relief, I will keep fighting to make sure they aren’t a dollar short when it comes to making Montana family farmers whole or protecting the livelihoods of folks who work in production agriculture.”
Roosevelt, McCone, Daniels, Richland and Sheridan are counties that are listed to receive relief for 2019 only. Valley County producers are eligible to receive relief for both 2018 and 2019.
The announcement of the USDA’s Quality Loss Adjustment Program comes in direct response to Tester’s recent letter to Farm Service Administrator Richard Fordyce excoriating over the delay in rolling out payments for crop losses and demanding that he provide immediate relief to Montana producers.
“Farmers and livestock producers nationwide experienced crop quality losses due to natural disasters in 2018 and 2019,” Bill Northey, USDA Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation, said. “We have worked diligently over the past couple of years to roll out meaningful disaster assistance programs to help alleviate the substantial financial loss experienced by so many agricultural producers and are pleased to offer quality loss assistance as added relief. Many of the eligible producers have already received compensation for quantity losses.”
The program is open for sign-ups through March 5 to producers in a county with a disaster declaration in 2018 or 2019 and who are able to demonstrate a 5 percent quality loss. More information about the program and how producers can apply for relief is available at https://www. farmers.gov/quality-loss Since September 2019, Tester has been fighting to get relief for producers in eastern Montana facing quality losses due to excessive rain and flooding in the region, and he repeatedly pushed Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to use his authority to support these farmers through the existing WHIP+ guidelines. When Perdue refused, Tester used the 2019 omnibus appropriations bill to expand the WHIP+ program to include quality loss, drought and excessive moisture and increased its funding by $1.5 billion to cover the new categories, and USDA subsequently issued a disaster declaration for 17 Montana counties.
But while the Farm Service Agency opened signup for disaster assistance for producers to apply for eligible losses of drought (D3 or above) and excessive moisture, USDA did not make disaster relief available for producers facing quality losses until now.
Eligible crops include those for which federal crop insurance or Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program coverage is available, except for grazed crops and value loss crops, such as honey, maple sap, aquaculture, floriculture, mushrooms, ginseng root, ornamental nursery, Christmas trees and turfgrass sod. Additionally, crops that were sold or fed to livestock or that are in storage may be eligible; however, crops that were destroyed before harvest are not eligible. Crop quality losses occurring after harvest, due to deterioration in storage, or that could have been mitigated, are also not eligible.
