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Prairie Grains is the
official publication of
the Minnesota
Association of
Wheat Growers,
North Dakota Grain
Growers Association,
South Dakota Wheat,
Inc., and the
Minnesota Barley
Growers Association.

The assistance is part of a larger $6 billion farm relief package approved by Congress before it adjourned in October. Working with the National Association of Wheat Growers, the North Dakota Grain Growers Association, Minnesota Association of Wheat Growers, and South Dakota Wheat Inc. have concentrated their lobbying efforts since last summer on bringing attention to the economic crisis facing wheat producers. That persistence on Capitol Hill paid off.

As a result of negotiations between the White House and members of Congress, encouraged by an effort led by the NAWG in achieving broad commodity organization support, the final legislation will provide nearly $1.7 billion more in immediate financial assistance than an earlier bill vetoed by the President, and about $1 billion over the next five years in tax reforms.

These tax reforms include five-year, net operating loss carry-back, income averaging, and a faster phase-in of deductibility of health insurance premiums for the self-employed to: 60% in 1999, 70% in 2002, and 100% in 2003.

The portion of the relief package earmarked for crop losses includes $1.5 billion to producers suffering losses in 1998, and $875 million to producers with multi-year losses, targeting those specifically dealing with wheat scab and flooding problems in the Northern Plains. Details on these programs are expected yet this month. The NDGGA, MAWG, and Minnesota Barley Growers Association have been urging US agriculture officials to administer the new federal funding earmarked for multi-year crop disasters as intended by Congress.

"Scab losses are mentioned specifically in the FY99 omnibus spending bill language. USDA Secretary Dan Glickman heard firsthand in his visit to the northern Red River Valley last June how multi-year wheat and barley disasters due to scab are affecting producers here. No one can argue that the federal assistance package began with this region in mind," says David Torgerson, executive director of the MAWG.

The NDGGA and MAWG pointed out to rule makers that many wheat and barley producers have suffered multiple crop failures in the 1990s, but did not technically qualify for indemnifying losses. "Surely, the producer who has suffered several years of wheat and barley losses averaging 30 percent, which does not qualify for indemnification, should be eligible for disaster assistance," the grain groups pointed out in one of their letters to USDA Secretary Dan Glickman.

The NDGGA and MAWG pointed out further that multiple disaster years stretching back to 1993 have lowered the actual production history (APH) of many wheat and barley farmers in the Red River Valley. This decline in APH has resulted in greater difficulty in qualifying for federal crop insurance coverage of crop losses. This irony may also make it more difficult for some growers to qualify for disaster relief.

"It would be unfortunate to see wheat and barley growers who have suffered from multiple-year production losses receive inadequate assistance or be entirely left out of economic help now," says Lance Gaebe, executive director of the NDGGA.__