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106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2237
To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to provide emergency assistance
to apple producers and onion producers in the State of New York
who incurred extensive crop losses in 1998.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 16, 1999
Mr. GILMAN (for himself, Mr. WALSH, Mr. MCHUGH, and Mrs. KELLY) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agri-
culture
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to provide emer-
gency assistance to apple producers and onion producers
in the State of New York who incurred extensive crop
losses in 1998.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. EMERGENCY CROP LOSS ASSISTANCE FOR NEW
YORK APPLE PRODUCERS.
(a) ASSISTANCE AUTHORIZED.—In addition to other
authorities available to the Secretary of Agriculture to
provide assistance to apple producers who incur crop
losses, the Secretary may provide assistance under this
section to apple producers in the State of New York who
incurred losses in 1998 to apple crops due to damaging
weather or related conditions.
(b) SPECIAL RULES.—In providing assistance to
apple producers under this section, the Secretary shall cal-
culate the amount of a apple producer’s payment in a
manner that—
(1) does not discount excess juice production;
(2) allows producers in 1998 to use their histor-
ical production as a yield basis;
(3) ensures that losses in each marketing cat-
egory (primary, secondary, and tertiary) are only
added together, and not subtracted as currently pro-
posed by the Department of Agriculture; and
(4) uses the 5-year average market price for ap-
ples in New York as established by the National Ag-
riculture Statistics Service.
(c) MAXIMUM PAYMENT LIMITATION.—In providing
assistance to apple producers under this section, the max-
imum payment limitation per farm shall be equal to the
higher of—
(1) $80,000; or
(2) the product of $1,350 and the total farm
orchard acreage.
(d) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary shall issue
guidelines for the provision of assistance under this sec-
tion, which shall be available to affected apple producers
not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment
of this Act. Subject to the availability of funds for this
purpose, the Secretary shall make payments available
under this section in an expeditious time frame in order
to alleviate the severe financial strain of New York State
apple producers.
SEC. 2. EMERGENCY CROP LOSS ASSISTANCE FOR NEW
YORK ONION PRODUCERS.
(a) ASSISTANCE AUTHORIZED.—In addition to other
authorities available to the Secretary of Agriculture to
provide assistance to onion producers who incur crop
losses, the Secretary may provide assistance under this
section to onion producers in the State of New York who
incurred losses in 1998 to onion crops due to damaging
weather or related conditions.
(b) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.—To be eligible for
assistance under this section, the Secretary must conclude
that, because of damaging weather or related condition in
1998, the total quantity of the 1998 onion crop that a
New York onion producer was able to harvest was less
than 65 percent of the producer’s historical yield. The Sec-
retary may accept information provided by insurance ad-
justors or the Cooperative Extension Service to verify a
producer’s loss in yield.
(c) CALCULATION OF PAYMENT.—
(1) PAYMENT FORMULA.—In providing assist-
ance to an eligible onion producer under this section,
the per acre amount of the producer’s payment shall
be equal to the product of—
(A) .65;
(B) the applicable annual percentage his-
tory; and
(C) payment rate.
(2) ANNUAL PERCENTAGE HISTORY.—For pur-
poses of paragraph (1)(B), a producer may select as
the producer’s annual percentage history either the
producer’s own historical yield before 1996, per hun-
dredweight, or the New York State average of 298
cwt.
(3) PAYMENT
RATE.—For purposes of para-
graph (1)(C), the Secretary shall use the 5-year av-
erage market price for yellow onions of $15.00 cwt.
(d) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary shall issue
guidelines for the provision of assistance under this sec-
tion, which shall be available to affected onion producers
not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment
of this Act. Subject to the availability of funds for this
purpose, the Secretary shall make payments available
under this section in an expeditious time frame in order
to alleviate the severe financial strain of New York State
onion producers.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There is authorized to be appropriated $40,000,000
to carry out this Act.
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