U.S. aid sought for California drought
By: Michael Doyle

WASHINGTON -- California's specialty crop farmers could get help from a $150 million emergency aid amendment added Tuesday to a larger jobs and unemployment package.

The aid will flow to fruit and vegetable farmers who work in the 24 California counties that have been designated as primary disaster areas because of drought. These include many Central Valley counties, among them Kings and Merced. Fresno and Tulare counties were not among those designated last September as primary disaster areas.

Though the amendment does not specify California as a recipient, the state is expected to receive a high percentage of the specialty-crop funding because it dominates the nation's fruit and vegetable production.

"Growers in California have experienced significant crop losses due to an extended period of drought, and these funds will help many get through these tough times," Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer said.

Boxer, who is running for re-election this year, worked with Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein to expand a specialty crop provision that originally was written solely for farmers hurt by excessive rainfall. They convinced the chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., to modify the farm amendment by including drought as an eligible condition.

Lincoln also is running for re-election this year.

"This is especially welcome news to farmers in the Central Valley, where drought cost nearly $600 million in lost crops last year and forced the fallowing of more than 400,000 acres of farmland," Feinstein said.

The specialty crop provision is part of roughly $2 billion in overall agricultural assistance, included in a package with a total estimated price tag approaching $150 billion.

The other agricultural provisions include direct payment to growers of subsidized crops such as cotton and rice, emergency loan assistance for poultry producers and aid for livestock and aquaculture producers.

The Senate is expected to approve the package of tax-break extensions, unemployment benefits and other provisions this week.