FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 14, 2001

SCHUMER: APPLE CHECKS ARE GOING OUT THIS WEEK

New York farmers will receive more than $9 million from Apple Market Loss Assistance Program; The average farm will receive as much as $31,000 Schumer introduces measure that would provide
$28 million in further relief for NY apple farms this year Senator also urges USDA to immediately release money still owed to New York's apple farmers from Quality Loss Program

US Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced that New York apple growers will receive approximately $9.4 million from the US Department of Agriculture's Apple Market Loss Assistance Program (AMLAP) to compensate them for market losses sustained in the last few years.
Although the USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) was originally supposed to start processing applications for AMLAP in January, the change in presidential administrations postponed the start of the program until March. USDA further delayed the launch of the program twice - first until April and then until May. Schumer called on the USDA to expedite delivery of the relief checks which are finally being sent out this week by the FSA.

"At long last, New York's apple farmers are going to be getting some overdue good news in the mail," Schumer said. "These payments aren't a cure-all, but they are going to provide some sorely- needed relief for farms struggling to stay afloat, especially for those farms that have been waiting on these checks to help with their preparations for the fall harvest." Apple growers use these funds to prepare for the new growing season, including purchasing equipment such as fertilizers and sprays to fend off bacterial infections such as fire blight. 550 New York apple farmers have applied for AMLAP assistance, and each grower could receive as much as $31,000. Orchardists will receive p ayments of about 2 cents per pound for up to 1.6 million pounds of the apples they produced in either 1998 or 1999. A total of $100 million of funding is being distributed to apple growers across the country. "USDA needs to do a better job of getting these payments out - not just the payments for the market loss program which are finally going out this week, but also those for the quality loss program which hasn't even been launched yet," Schumer said.

In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, Schumer called on the USDA to immediately release $38 million due to apple and potato farmers from the Quality Loss Program, which provides assistance to apple and potato farms who have suffered damage from extreme weather. The Quality Loss Program was supposed to begin enrolling farmers last January but USDA has not yet started it. Schumer called the program's delay "unacceptable. With every day that goes by, we endanger the survival of apple orchard operations in New York," wrote Schumer.

Orchardists throughout the state have suffered losses of approximately $44 million from the 2000 crop year and more than $112 million over the past three years, according to estimates from the New York Horticultural Society . Growers have been hurt badly by unfairly priced apples imported from foreign countries, excessive regulatory costs, stagnant consumption in the US, subsidized foreign competition, reduced exports, and global overproduction.

Schumer said he and several of his colleagues in the Senate are introducing legislation this week to authorize $250 million for a new round of AMLAP funding intended to help offset losses from the 2000 growing season. Under this new bill, farmers would now be eligible for reimbursement on up to their first 20 million pounds of production, a significant increase from the 1.6 million pound cap in the first round of funding. According to the US Apple Association, New York orchardists would receive about $28 million.

# # #