WASHINGTON, DC – At a hearing today of the Senate Committee on Agriculture examining agriculture disasters, U.S. Senator Pat Roberts again called for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide any and all help for livestock producers facing a third year of serious drought in Kansas. Roberts also mentioned concerns from farmers in Northwest Kansas that need crop insurance to include fair ratings for limited irrigation.

Senator Roberts made the following remarks at the hearing:

“Even after two years of sustained drought in the plains and facing a third year, Kansas producers once again put seeds in the ground. Many will once again fire up their tractor and planter in another six weeks.”

“This is not due to some day-late or dollar-short ad hoc disaster package, but because they managed their risk and protected their operations from Mother Nature’s destruction through the purchase of crop insurance.”

“Unfortunately livestock producers do not have a similar safety net. However with the support of Secretary Vilsack, last year, the USDA authorized the emergency haying and grazing of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres in all Kansas Counties including emergency grazing on CP-25, for the first time. This additional forage was a lifesaver for ranchers struggling to find or pay for feed and I want to thank all parties involved for allowing it to happen.

“According to USDA reports last year over 9,000 emergency haying and grazing contracts allowed haying or grazing on over 470,000 acres in Kansas. As we continue to experience drought, what considerations has UDSA given on allowing emergency haying and grazing of CRP acres for 2013?

Roberts went on to discuss limited irrigation and the need for a fair ratings system:

“In northwest Kansas, producers irrigating from the Oglala Aquifer must work to conserve their water for future generations. However, current RMA practices do not have a middle ground between fully irrigated and dry land practices. It is in everyone’s best interest for a mechanism to allow limited irrigation to be fairly rated.

“The more producers under the crop insurance tent and using risk management tools to protect themselves from disaster, the more stable our food supply and rural economies will be.”

Roberts is a senior member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture.

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