New ag disaster declared

For the fifth time this year, Yuba-Sutter has received an agricultural disaster declaration from the federal government.

And local ag officials are looking to get the word out that the rules have changed for local farmers and ranchers seeking payments to offset production losses.

Sutter County received a disaster declaration from the United States Department of Agriculture last week for livestock operations due to ongoing drought conditions. It's the third disaster declaration given to Sutter County this year, along with two given to Yuba County. Previous disaster declarations were given for wind damage from the Jan. 4 storm and damage done by a freeze in April.

"It's just the way Mother Nature dealt 2008," said Mark Quisenberry, Sutter County's agricultural commissioner.

Livestock products were valued in 2007 at about $21.5 million in Yuba County and at about $16 million in Sutter County, according to county crop reports.

Ranchers near the Sutter Buttes and in Colusa County have reported forage levels up to 60 percent below normal, said Glenn Nader, the University of California Extension's livestock farm adviser for Sutter, Yuba and Butte counties.

The impact has also been felt at the university's research center in Browns Valley, where forage is down 38 percent.

"It has impacted our ability to do research and we've had to sell cattle," Nader said.

The disaster declarations make it possible for area farmers and ranchers to apply for emergency loans to offset losses, said Joel Twitchell, the executive director for USDA's Sutter/Yuba/Nevada Farm Service Agency.

However, the new farm bill Congress recently approved means there have been some changes to what farmers must do to qualify for assistance. Primarily, this is for insuring crops.

Previously, ag producers could pick and choose what crops they insured where and still be eligible for disaster relief, Twitchell said.

The latest declaration allows livestock producers in Sutter and adjacent counties to apply for the funds, officials said.

Now, in order to get disaster assistance for losses from this farm season, ag producers have to show protection on all their agriculture interests.

"They have to insure every crop on every farm in every county in every state," Twitchell said.

That means they must buy crop insurance or noninsured crop disaster assistance, or NAP, on crops that can't be insured.

There is still time for producers to purchase the buy-ins to become eligible for disaster assistance this year. Buy-ins for 2008 crops are due Sept. 16, Twitchell said. Also close is a Dec. 1 deadline for next year's crops.

"Our biggest challenge right now is trying to get this info out before the deadlines," he said.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Robert LaHue at 749-4713 or rlahue@appealdemocrat.com.