Farmers lose thousands

New Mexico farmers who signed up with a U.S. Department of Agriculture insurance program for grazing losses are out thousands of dollars and fear things will only get worse.

New Mexico Cattle Growers Association Executive Director Caren Cowan said farmers signed up with the USDA's Farm Service Agency Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) haven't been paid in more than a month, even though the funding has been approved. Cowan says phones have been ringing non-stop with concerned farmers who are now expecting payouts.

The NAP provides financial assistance to producers of non-insurable crops when low yields, loss of inventory or prevented planting occurs due to natural disasters. The insurance program service fee ranges between $250 and $1,875, depending on the number of crops grown and counties where they have farming interests.

"As part of the sequester, all USDA programs ceased on March 1, including the NAP program," said Cowan, which caused payments to farmers to halt.

But Cowan said USDA Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack gave Congress a 30-day notice permit to make sure those funds were distributed again on March 19.

When April 19 rolled around, Cowan said farmers were in a panic when they discovered the payments weren't made, even though they had been approved. She says many are missing out on the thousands of dollars per ranch they count on receiving through the program.

"We thought payments would be assured," Cowan said. "The horror continues out here on the land. The government isn't making the payments. They've taken the money for the payments and now they need to pay up."

According to Marissa Padilla, communications director for the office of U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., Udall has been in contact with the USDA to get the issue resolved.

"Sen. Udall has been pushing USDA to get all FSA payments up and running again," Padilla said. "We heard today that FSA has approval to move forward and that they hope to get payments turned back on this week, with payments reaching producers in the coming week or so."

Padilla said her office expects to get more concrete information by Wednesday on when farmers can receive those payments. Udall also plans to address Vilsack this week about the issue.

"In addition, Sen. Udall will get a chance to ask secretary Vilsack directly about the holdup on these payments on Thursday morning when he appears before the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee the senator is a member of."