Robert Pore's Ag Blog

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., is a co-sponsor of bi-partisan legislation introduced in the Senate Wednesday that provides as much as $6 billion in disaster assistance to farmers and ranchers.

The bill would also provides funding to the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP), which will help rehabilitating grass and ranch lands in western Nebraska damaged from the wildfires this year.

“Agriculture producers in Nebraska and other states are struggling with the ongoing drought and Congress has failed to respond adequately,” Nelson said. “The problem is getting worse and Washington just doesn’t seem to get it.”.

The primary sponsor of the bill is Sen. Ken Conrad, D-N.D.

“The livelihoods of thousands of families are at stake,” Conrad said. “We need nothing less than a comprehensive disaster bill to cover 2005 and 2006 losses.”

This stand alone legislation is different from the $4 billion disaster relief package approved by the Senate Agricultural Appropriations Committee this summer.

Nelson said the new ag disaster package combines provisions of the other disaster assistance package, that he sponsored earlier this year, with new areas of priorities.

Nelson said the ag disaster package now provides emergency funding to farmers and ranchers who have suffered weather-related crop production shortfalls, quality losses and damage to livestock and feed supplies.

The bill also helps farmers overcome losses as a result of energy prices that spiked following last year’s hurricanes.

The bill would also expand funding for the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP), some of which could be made available for rehabilitating grass and ranch lands in western Nebraska that were damaged from the recent wildfires.

“This bill will provide some meaningful and immediate assistance to Nebraskans who lost so much in those fires,” said Nelson.

The bill also provides assistance to small rural business owners who have seen their businesses impacted from the drought and other weather disasters.

Nelson said the devastating impact of the drought is not reserved for farm and ranch land.

“Drought affects related businesses, feed lots, grain dealers, implement dealers, and even local store fronts that service rural communities,” he said. “Drought doesn’t just destroy farms; it economically damages our rural communities and threatens our rural way of life.”

The economic assistance package authored by Conrad provides $300 million for a Small Business Economic Loss Grant Program.

The provision is designed to help small, agriculturally dependent businesses that have suffered significant losses because of the natural disasters that have decimated rural economies.

In Nebraska, state cattle producers have been hard by the ongoing drought, especially in July when there were 14 days with temperatures more than 90 degrees.
The loss of grassland caused many ranchers to sell of part of their herds. Also, the lack of forage has caused hay prices to skyrocket.

Last week, the USDA reported that in Nebraska in August all baled hay prices averaged $85 per ton compared to $46 per ton a year earlier.

Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns has declared a total of 49 Nebraska counties agricultural disaster areas and 34 additional counties could soon receive the same designation.

Nelson said adding up the crop losses, supplemental irrigation costs, and lost grazing capacity, the total direct impact of drought conditions on Nebraska crop and livestock producers has been estimated to exceed $340 million in 2006.

Tariffs on imported ethanol could fuel future alternative fuel research and development, said U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.

Also, the nation’s growing ethanol industry had another record month of production in June, according to the Renewable Fuels Association.

Nelson introduced legislation this week that he said will boost ethanol’s future by taking the money generated by the ethanol import tariff and investing it into renewable fuels research and development.

“The United States must continue to push ahead with research and development of biofuels, and cellulosic ethanol represents the next generation of this important alternative, renewable fuel,” Nelson said.

According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, the U.S. imported 50.8 million barrels of ethanol in June.

During June, U.S. ethanol production increased to 318,000 barrels per day (b/d), an all-time record, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. That is an increase of 25,000 b/d from May and a rise of nearly 28 percent from June 2005.

The RFA reported that demand for ethanol also rose to record levels in June at 395,000 b/d. That represents a 46,000 b/d jump from May and an increase of more than 42 percent from the same period a year ago.

Nelson’s bill would create a fund in the general treasury, called the Biofuels Investment Trust Fund. That fund would take the imported ethanol tariff revenue through the Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Agriculture into research.

He said those dollars will increase and diversify biofuel production in the United States, such as advancing development of switchgrass so it can become a dedicated energy crop. Nelson said that research can be done at the University of Nebraska.

“This dedicated investment will help push our renewable-fuels efforts to the next level,” he said. “It only makes sense that we use these funds to improve our ability to produce ethanol right here at home and from numerous sources.”

According to the RFA, currently, 101 ethanol biorefineries nationwide have the capacity to produce more than 4.8 billion gallons annually.

There are 42 ethanol refineries and seven expansions under construction with a combined annual capacity of nearly 2.9 billion gallons.