IARN — Iowa Congresswoman Cindy Axne is lauding the House Ag Committee for advancing bipartisan legislation that reauthorizes the WHIP+ program to cover agricultural losses from natural disasters in 2020 and 2021.
Introduced by fellow Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra, the legislation would provide assistance to Iowa Ag producers who suffered losses from last year’s devastating derecho storm, which produced wind gusts comparable to a major tornado or hurricane. Axne – a member of the House Ag Committee – recently told IARN affiliate KMA that she voted in favor of the bill, which would authorize up to $8.5 billion to cover losses in the last two years.
“This will provide the relief that those producers who suffered last year absolutely need,” said Axne. “The derecho, which would not have been covered if we didn’t expand the program, we were able to get in here. It was my top priority to make sure that we got that for Iowans. This will make a world of difference. We estimate that about 850,000 acres of crops were unable to be harvested in Iowa due to the derecho. That’s why it was so important to get WHIP+ and to make sure that it included the losses suffered from the derecho.”
“Previously, the trigger was what they called a D3 designation,” said Axne. “Now, we have a D2 drought conditions designation. What that means is that it just gives us more opportunity to get the support that we need. Getting this in there to expand that drought trigger for counties was another really big piece of this and having us have a lower threshold to go through was important to us.”
Estimates place damage from last year’s derecho at $7.5 billion.
Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network
