II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3644 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to provide crop disaster assistance 

to agricultural producers that suffered qualifying quantity or quality 

losses for the 2008 crop year due to a natural disaster. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 27 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 17), 2008 

Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mrs. LINCOLN, Mr. PRYOR, 

Mr. WICKER, and Mr. COCHRAN) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 

Forestry 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to provide crop disaster assistance to agricultural producers that suffered 

qualifying quantity or quality losses for the 2008 crop 

year due to a natural disaster. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Farm Relief Act of 

5 2008’’. 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
2 

•S 3644 IS

1 SEC. 2. 2008 CROP DISASTER ASSISTANCE. 

2 Section 9001 of the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ 

3 Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appro4 priations Act, 2007 (Public Law 110–28; 121 Stat. 211) 

5 is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a)— 

7 (A) by striking ‘‘There are hereby’’ and in8 serting the following: 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There are hereby’’; and 

10 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(2) 2008 CROP DISASTER ASSISTANCE.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—There are hereby ap13 propriated to the Secretary such sums as are 

14 necessary, to remain available until expended, 

15 to make emergency financial assistance under 

16 this section available to producers on a farm 

17 that incurred qualifying quantity or quality 

18 losses for the 2008 crop due a natural disaster 

19 or any related condition, as determined by the 

20 Secretary. 

21 ‘‘(B) SUGAR AND SUGARCANE DISASTER

22 ASSISTANCE.— 

23 ‘‘(i) FLORIDA.—There are hereby ap24 propriated to the Secretary such sums as 

25 are necessary, to remain available until ex26 pended, to make payments to processors in 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
3 

•S 3644 IS

1 Florida that are eligible to obtain a loan 

2 under section 156(a) of the Federal Agri3 culture Improvement and Reform Act of 

4 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7272(a)) to compensate 

5 first processors and producers for crop and 

6 other losses due a natural disaster or any 

7 related condition, as determined by the 

8 Secretary, in Florida during calendar year 

9 2008, by an agreement on the same terms 

10 and conditions, to the maximum extent 

11 practicable, as the payments made under 

12 section 102 of the Emergency Supple13 mental Appropriations for Hurricane Dis14 asters Assistance Act of 2005 (Public Law 

15 108–324; 118 Stat. 1235), including that 

16 the 2008 base production of each har17 vesting unit shall be determined using the 

18 same base year crop production history 

19 that was used pursuant to the agreement 

20 under that section. 

21 ‘‘(ii) LOUISIANA.— 

22 ‘‘(I) COMPENSATION FOR

23 LOSSES.—There are hereby appro24 priated to the Secretary such sums as 

25 are necessary, to remain available 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
4 

•S 3644 IS

1 until expended, to make assistance 

2 available to first processors of sugar3 cane that operate in a county affected 

4 by a natural disaster, or obtain sugar5 cane from a county affected by a nat6 ural disaster, in Louisiana and that 

7 are eligible to obtain a loan under sec8 tion 156(a) of the Federal Agriculture 

9 Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 

10 (7 U.S.C. 7272(a)), in the form of 

11 monetary payments or commodities in 

12 the inventory of the Commodity Cred13 it Corporation derived from carrying 

14 out that section, to compensate pro15 ducers and first processors for crop 

16 and other losses due to the natural 

17 disaster or any related condition, as 

18 determined by the Secretary. 

19 ‘‘(II) ADMINISTRATION.—Assist20 ance under this clause shall be— 

21 ‘‘(aa) shared by an affected 

22 first processor with affected pro23 ducers that provide commodities 

24 to the processor in a manner that 

25 reflects contracts entered into beVerDate Aug 31 2005 01:11 Sep 29, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3644.IS S3644

wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
5 

•S 3644 IS

1 tween the processor and the pro2 ducers, except with respect to a 

3 portion of the amount of total as4 sistance provided under subclause 

5 (I) necessary to compensate af6 fected producers for individual 

7 losses experienced by the pro8 ducers, including losses due to 

9 saltwater intrusion, flooding, 

10 wind damage, or increased plant11 ing, replanting, or harvesting 

12 costs, which shall be transferred 

13 by the first processor to the af14 fected producers without regard 

15 to contractual share arrange16 ments; and 

17 ‘‘(bb) made available under 

18 such terms and conditions as the 

19 Secretary determines are nec20 essary to carry out this clause. 

21 ‘‘(III) FORM OF ASSISTANCE.— 

22 In carrying out this clause, the Sec23 retary shall— 

24 ‘‘(aa) convey to the first 

25 processor commodities in the inVerDate Aug 31 2005 01:11 Sep 29, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3644.IS S3644

wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
6 

•S 3644 IS

1 ventory of the Commodity Credit 

2 Corporation derived from car3 rying out section 156(a) of the 

4 Federal Agriculture Improvement 

5 and Reform Act of 1996 (7 

6 U.S.C. 7272(a)); 

7 ‘‘(bb) make monetary pay8 ments to the first processor; or 

9 ‘‘(cc) take any combination 

10 of actions described in items (aa) 

11 and (bb), using commodities or 

12 monetary payments. 

13 ‘‘(IV) LOSS DETERMINATION.— 

14 In carrying out this clause, the Sec15 retary shall use the same base year to 

16 determine crop loss that was elected 

17 by a producer to determine crop loss 

18 in carrying out the hurricane assist19 ance program under section 207 of 

20 the Agricultural Assistance Act of 

21 2003 (Public Law 108–7; 117 Stat. 

22 543). 

23 ‘‘(iii) TEXAS.—There are hereby ap24 propriated to the Secretary such sums as 

25 are necessary, to remain available until exVerDate Aug 31 2005 01:11 Sep 29, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3644.IS S3644

wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
7 

•S 3644 IS

1 pended, to assist sugarcane growers in 

2 Texas by making a payment in that 

3 amount to a farmer-owned cooperative sug4 arcane processor in that State, for costs of 

5 demurrage, storage, and transportation re6 sulting from natural disaster or any re7 lated condition during calendar year 2008. 

8 ‘‘(C) RELATION TO SUPPLEMENTAL AGRI9 CULTURAL DISASTER ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.— 

10 A producer on a farm that accepts assistance 

11 made available under this paragraph for a crop 

12 loss is not eligible to receive supplemental agri13 cultural disaster assistance for that crop loss 

14 under subtitle B of the Federal Crop Insurance 

15 Act (7 U.S.C. 1531) or title IX of the Trade 

16 Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2497 et seq.).’’; and 

17 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘this section’’ 

18 each place it appears and inserting ‘‘subsection 

19 (a)(1)’’. 

20 SEC. 3. AQUACULTURE GRANTS. 

21 (a) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE APPLICANT.—In this 

22 section, the term ‘‘eligible applicant’’ means a producer 

23 of animals described in section 10806(a)(1) of the Farm 

24 Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (21 U.S.C. 

25 321d(a)(1)) during the 2008 calendar year. 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
8 

•S 3644 IS

1 (b) AQUACULTURE GRANTS.—Of the funds of the 

2 Commodity Credit Corporation, the Secretary of Agri3 culture shall use $50,000,000 to provide grants to appro4 priate State departments of agriculture (or other appro5 priate State agencies) that agree to provide assistance to 

6 eligible applicants through animal feed providers that 

7 agree to make the assistance available on a pro rata basis 

8 to eligible applicants based on documented feed use by the 

9 eligible applicants during the 2008 calendar year to help 

10 offset feed costs or economic losses caused by natural dis11 asters. 

12 (c) DUTY OF SECRETARY.—The Secretary shall en13 sure that— 

14 (1) funds made available under subsection (b) 

15 are apportioned in an equitable manner among the 

16 States that receive funds under this section; and 

17 (2) assistance is made available based only on 

18 documented feed use. 

19 (d) REGULATIONS.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture 

21 may promulgate such regulations as are necessary to 

22 implement this section. 

23 (2) PROCEDURE.—The promulgation of the reg24 ulations and administration of this section shall be 

25 made without regard to— 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
9 

•S 3644 IS

1 (A) the notice and comment provisions of 

2 section 553 of title 5, United States Code; 

3 (B) the Statement of Policy of the Sec4 retary of Agriculture effective July 24, 1971 

5 (36 Fed. Reg. 13804), relating to notices of 

6 proposed rulemaking and public participation in 

7 rulemaking; and 

8 (C) chapter 35 of title 44, United States 

9 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Re10 duction Act’’). 

11 (3) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF AGENCY RULE12 MAKING.—In carrying out this subsection, the Sec13 retary shall use the authority provided under section 

14 808 of title 5, United States Code. 

Æ 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS