FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 1, 2002

SCHUMER: FARM BILL SENDS $10 MILLION TO ORANGE COUNTY ONION FARMERS

Senator says Farm Bill has $12.3 million stimulus package for Orange County farmers, including unprecedented aid to local onion farmers

Schumer also announces good news for Orange County apple and dairy farmers, releases county-by-county analysis of how apple and dairy farmers fared in the Farm Bill statewide

Orange County farmers should get a $12.3 million stimulus package from the recently completed federal Farm Bill, including an unprecedented $10 million for local onion farmers, according to a new county-by-county analysis by US Senator Charles E. Schumer. Schumer said that Northeastern agriculture scored a major victory in the Farm Bill overall and vowed to continue fighting to ensure that New York's farming community holds its place on the map.

"It's not every day that I get to deliver news like this to Orange County farmers, so today is particularly sweet," Schumer said. "For years, onion producers in Orange County have been plagued by season after season of bad luck. Today, we're turning that streak around."

In November 2000, Schumer wrote to then Secretary Dan Glickman to ask USDA to direct funds from the Commodity Credit Corporation to assist Hudson Valley onion farmers who had incurred weather-related damages to their crops since 1996. At the time, he noted that as a result of severe crop losses, local farmers were on the verge of being forced to sell part or all of their land for development.

Schumer said that Farm Bill language released today directs the Secretary of Agriculture to use $10 million in Commodity Credit Corporation funds to support onion producers in Orange County that have suffered losses to onion crops between 1996 and 2000.

"This is a tremendous accomplishment," said Chris Pawelski, an Orange County onion producer. "We know it is very rare for Congress to pass legislation such as this, and it's a big boost for us. No farming area in the country has suffered the number of weather disasters we have in recent years, and this will help us pay some bills and keep farming."

Using data from the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri, Schumer's analysis of the Farm Bill found that the 125 dairy farms in Orange County should expect about $1.9 million in payments this year if the price of milk falls below 16.94 per cwt as expected. Schumer said the individual New York dairy farmer stands to receive an average payment of $15,200 annually over the approximately three and a half year life of the dairy program. Statewide, the Farm Bill will send about $76 million annually to New York dairy farmers, with $6.4 million to the 422 dairy farmers throughout the Hudson Valley.

The Farm Bill would also send about $12,925 in 2002 to the average apple farmer in New York -- for a total of more than $16.6 million statewide -- to help farmers recoup losses suffered as a result of low apple prices in 2000. According to Schumer, the Hudson Valley's 246 apple farms should get $3.2 million, with Orange County's 29 apple farms projected to receive $374,825 of those funds.

To see how other regions in New York fared in the Farm Bill, click here

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