Montana Cattlemen Association

Addressing the market interests of Montana cattle producers

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Tester Announces Drought Assistance for Montana Farmers and Ranchers

July 15, 2021

 

Sarah Feldman | 202.604.5521

Roy Loewenstein | 202.913.0188

Andy Bixler | 406.230.1721

Producers will begin receiving financial and technical assistance;

Emergency haying and grazing on CRP acres may be authorized, following Senator’s push

 

(U.S. Senate) – Amid a historic drought gripping Montana, U.S. Senator Jon Tester today announced that impacted Montana farmers and ranchers will begin receiving financial and technical assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA also announced that, following a Tester push, emergency haying and grazing of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres may be authorized to provide additional relief to producers.

 

“Montana is experiencing one of the worst droughts in my lifetime—Sharla and I see it on our farm and I’ve heard from family farmers and ranchers across the state who have been hit hard by this disaster,” said Tester. “I’m glad the USDA is taking the steps I’ve pushed for to provide relief to our producers, but now we need to make sure that this assistance gets out the door and into the hands of Montanans as quickly as possible. Agriculture is the backbone of Montana’s economy and of our way of life in rural America, and we need to make sure producers are made whole.”

 

At the beginning of July, Montana declared a statewide drought emergency, and Tester urged USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to open up Conservation Reserve Program lands to emergency haying and grazing. Tester first wrote to Secretary Vilsack regarding Montana’s weather conditions in May, urging him to closely monitor the situation and find workable solutions for the state’s producers.

 

Producers who experience livestock deaths and feed losses due to natural disasters may be eligible for the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP). This program also provides eligible producers with compensation for expenses associated with transporting water to livestock physically located in a county that is designated as level “D3 Drought – Extreme” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. For ELAP, producers will need to file a notice of livestock loss within 30 days and honeybee losses within 15 days of the loss becoming apparent.

 

Livestock producers may also be eligible for the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) for 2021 grazing losses due to drought. LFP benefits may be available for grazing acres losses due to wildfires on federally managed lands on which a producer is prohibited, by a federal agency, from grazing normally permitted livestock.

 

Additionally, emergency haying and grazing of CRP acres may be authorized (outside of the primary nesting season) to provide relief to livestock producers in areas affected by a severe drought or similar natural disaster.  Senator Tester will continue urging USDA to provide flexibility from the 60 day rule since drought emergencies were declared so early in the year due to the extraordinary conditions.

 

Emergency haying and grazing status is reviewed and authorized each Thursday using the U.S. Drought monitor. Counties are approved for emergency haying and grazing due to drought conditions on a county by county basis, when a county is designated as level “D2 Drought – Severe” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

 

Producers who have risk protection through Federal Crop Insurance or Farm Service Administration’s (FSA) NAP should report crop damage to their crop insurance agent or FSA office, respectively. If they have crop insurance, producers should report crop damage to their agent within 72 hours of damage discovery and follow up in writing within 15 days. For NAP covered crops, a Notice of Loss (CCC-576) must be filed within 15 days of the loss becoming apparent, except for hand-harvested crops, which should be reported within 72 hours.

 

Tester, the Senate’s only working farmer, has been a fierce advocate for Montana’s producers in Washington. He recently announced, after an aggressive two-year push, the USDA will begin making more than $1 billion in payments Eastern Montana producers who suffered losses in 2018 and 2019. 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 in 2018 and 2019, and he repeatedly pushed Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to use his authority to support these farmers through the existing WHIP+ guidelines. When Secretary 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.

 

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Biden administration to issue executive order on country of origin labeling

By

Ariana Figueroa

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WASHINGTON—The White House will unveil an executive order in the coming days that directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture to clarify that meat can only receive a “Product of USA” label if that livestock is raised in the U.S. rather than abroad, press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

“The EO directs USDA to develop a plan to increase opportunities for farmers to access markets and receive a fair return, including supporting alternative food distribution systems like farmers markets and developing standards and labels so that consumers can choose to buy products that treat farmers and agriculture workers fairly,” Psaki said.

Psaki said that the executive order will make it easier for farmers to economically compete against international meat industries.

Under current labeling rules, most grass-fed beef labeled “Product of USA” is actually raised and slaughtered abroad, but imported to the U.S. for processing.

“The president and the USDA believe it is unfair for domestic farmers and ranchers to have to compete with foreign companies that are misleading consumers,” she said.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement last week that the agency would initiate a “top-to-bottom” review of the “Product of USA” label that will help determine what the label means to consumers. The announcement followed a Federal Trade Commission move on strengthening the labeling.

“We have taken note of the many comments submitted to USDA and the FTC regarding meat labeling and understand that the current ‘Product of USA’ label on meat products may no longer effectively serve either of those purposes, to the detriment of consumers, producers, and fair and competitive markets,” said Vilsack.

Psaki said the order also aims to make it easier for farmers to bring claims against corporate agriculture companies under the Packers and Stockyards Act to prevent chicken processors from underpaying farmers, and would protect from retaliation those farmers who report companies that are not following the rules.