Published August 1999 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd Disaster Relief for Farmers
As a result of the many months of drought that has gripped West Virginia, President Clinton has, at my request, designated every county in the state a federal agricultural disaster area. This designation opens the door to farmers to receive short-term financial help through low-interest USDA loans and other programs to help cover losses that resulted from the drought. In West Virginia, this drought has devastated the lives of hundreds of family farmers, and I am deeply concerned about the fate of West Virginia's last 17.000 surviving small family farms. Recently, I had the opportunity to visit a farm in Jefferson County and to meet with farmers. I stood in what should have been a fertile cornfield with corn above my head, but the tassels barely reached past my knees. Ears of corn snapped too easily from the stalk and were no bigger than two rolls of quarters placed end to end. I saw the conditions of the cattle and pastures in West Virginia. I saw the dry, cracked fields. I heard the heartbreaking stories of farmers and their wives. The federal disaster designation is a first step in helping farmers to survive financially during this drought. In addition to the low-interest loans, farmers can apply for assistance from the Emergency Conservation Program, which provides emergency cost share funding for water conservation measures; federal crop insurance; and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program, which provides compensation for crops for which crop insurance is not available. Farmers have eight months from the date of loss to apply for the loans to help cover part of their actual losses. To be eligible, producers must have suffered at least a 30-percent loss of normal production in a single enterprise, be able to repay the loan and any other loans, be unable to obtain credit elsewhere. and have adequate security or credit h1- .ry. Farmers and ranchers should contact their local USDA Service Center or Farm Service Agency county office for further information. While this drought is primarily an inconvenience for most people in the mid-Atlantic region, it has stolen the life from much of the land and the livelihoods of many of our farmers. It is my hope that this federal disaster declaration, and the financial assistance that comes with it, will help farmers throughout West Virginia stave off devastation and survive until the rains return to the hills and fields. August 11, 1999