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Senators Express Concern Over Livestock Disaster Assistance Rules

7/29/2009

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, joined with a bipartisan coalition of Senators led by Chuck Grassley (R-IA), in questioning if several new rules of the Livestock Indemnity Program will actually help farmers and ranchers if their herds incur losses from harsh weather.

The Senators wrote to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack about the critical assistance that the Livestock Indemnity Program can provide to support the livestock industry during a difficult time.  They specifically wrote about the need to come up with a more precise methodology to calculate death losses for non-adult beef animals and the necessity to set a payment rate utilizing values corresponding to the time when the livestock were lost, such as monthly or quarterly price points to more accurately determine fair market value payment rates for the lost animals.

The letter was sent by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Tim Johnson (D-SD) and John Thune (R-SD).