Senator John Hoeven, Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, this week arranged a meeting between sugar cooperatives, sugar beet growers and the USDA Under Secretary Bill Northey to ensure that the additional $1.5 billion in disaster assistance and provisions for sugar producers are implemented in a timely manner that works for sugar growers and cooperatives.
The sugar beet growers in the Red River Valley faced unpredictable challenges in the 2019 year leaving much of the crop in the field.
This added assistance came as a result of a roundtable had between Hoeven and others in the agriculture industry held in late December 2019.
Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Agriculture Appproperations legislation was passed and signed into law in December.
Funding legislation includes:
It provides $1.5 billion in disaster assistance
, which is being reprogrammed from unspent FY2017 disaster funding. This funding is in addition to the $3 billion in disaster assistance approved by Congress in May.
Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to make
disaster payments to eligible sugar cooperatives
.
Expands program eligibility to
cover quality losses
, in addition to production losses.
Clarifies eligible disaster events by
including losses related to excess moisture and D3 drought
.
