\New York's Senator
CHARLES E. SCHUMER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 6, 2000

SCHUMER SAYS AGRICULTURE APPROPRIATIONS BILL CONTAINS RECORD FUNDING FOR APPLE AND DAIRY FARMERS

NY Farmers Will Receive An Unprecedented $70 Million In Direct Payments This Year

US Senator Charles E. Schumer said today that the FY2001 Agriculture Appropriations Bill contains record funding levels for New York's apple and dairy farmers. Schumer said that Congressional negotiators ironing out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill completed their work yesterday and that the bill will contain more than $70 million in direct payments for New York farmers, an unprecedented level of federal support for the state's farming community.

The farm bill contains approximately $579 million in direct payments to dairy farmers, including $52 million to New York's dairy farmers. The bill also contains $138 million in emergency aid for apple and potato farmers who suffered losses in 1999 and 2000, including approximately $18 million for New York farmers. Apple farmers whose crops incurred damages due to 1999's Hurricane Floyd will receive about $13 million and those whose crops incurred damages due to 2000's flooding are expected to receive about $5 million once the final damage estimates are calculated after the harvest.

"These payments are not a cure-all, but they will go a long way towards easing the burden felt by many of New York's farmers," Schumer said. "With dairy farmers spilling their milk in protest to low prices and apple producers having to sell their apples for juice at way below the cost of production, Congress needed to do something to help keep our family farms in business. There is still more to do, which is why I'm going to continue to fight to expand the Dairy Compact to include New York."

Schumer said that dairy farmers have been especially hard hit by last year's rapid price fluctuations. Farm milk prices fell almost 40 percent in the Spring of 1999 and in December, farmers suffered the steepest decline of milk prices in history as prices fell to their lowest levels in more than two decades. These price fluctuations have forced almost 1,500 New York dairy farms out of business since November, 1997.

This year's funding level of $579 million for dairy farmers is almost four times more than what was approved for dairy farmers in the FY2000 Agriculture Appropriations bill. The average 80 cow dairy farm should receive approximately $7,000 in direct payments, up from the approximately - more -
$2,000 they received in the FY2000 bill. Schumer worked with Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy and Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl to ensure that this funding was included in the final version of the bill.

Schumer said that New York's apple farmers will benefit from amendments he attached with Michigan Senators Carl Levin and Spencer Abraham to the final version of the appropriations bill. The final amount going to apple and potato farmers who suffered losses or damages in 1999 and 2000 will be $138 million.

This emergency account for damages incurred in 2000 by apple and potato farmers was included in the Senate version of the bill at Schumer and Abraham's behest. The account for damages incurred in 1999 was is in both the House and Senate versions of the bill.

New York apple farmers who experienced crop damages as a result of Hurricane Floyd will receive approximately $13 million with individual farms receiving checks up to $30,000. Farmers in the Hudson Valley whose crops were damaged by hail storms this past spring will receive a significant amount of this funding - perhaps $5 million - once New York's allocation is determined after the harvest is completed which is usually at the end of October.

"Over the last two years, apple farmers in Columbia, Dutchess, Orange and Ulster counties have lost more than $30 million due to Hurricane Floyd and hail damage. Yet, apple producers received little, if any, government assistance." Schumer said. "Apple farmers in New York will not receive as much as they deserve, but for the first time, Congress has acknowledged that two consecutive years of disasters merit specific emergency assistance."

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