Scuse met with Governor Chris Christie and the New Jersey Board of Agriculture at the State Agricultural Convention. Christie spoke to the convention’s 600 attendees.
by Lynne Richmond and Tara Gruber, Farm Service Agency
USDA Acting Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse recently listened to New Jersey farmers express opinions about crop insurance and risk management during the State Agricultural Convention in Atlantic City.
Scuse used the opportunity to lay out USDA’s 2011 accomplishments, including improved disaster assistance procedures in a year of severe weather. The under secretary reported that at the end of August, New Jersey producers suffered crop losses and farm damage caused by Hurricane Irene.
“We focused on getting money to producers fast,” said Scuse. To date, USDA has paid New Jersey producers $1.6 million for crop losses.
Scuse’s own farm in Delaware also was hurt by Hurricane Irene.
“I had to take a few days off to go home to my farm,” he said. “My corn field was flooded and 300 acres were flattened.”
He talked about program improvements USDA has made that include lowering crop insurance premiums by an average of 7 to 9 percent; creating better collaboration among FSA, RMA and NASS, synchronizing systems so producers could one day file a single crop report online and; streamlining disaster assistance from a six-step process to a two-step process and the average time it takes for approval from 89 days to 25 days.
In response to risk management concerns, Scuse talked about reasons why farmers’ claims are sometimes denied. He told convention delegates USDA is addressing those issues, but he said crop insurance is a public/private partnership. USDA is working with the 14 insurance companies also involved in the process.
Scuse was asked about USDA providing crop insurance for various specialty crops. He said USDA considers any reasonable proposal, and setting up a pilot program may be a good first step.
“Acting Under Secretary Scuse brought a lot of relevant information to the convention for our ag community,” said New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher. “He listened intently, took notes and is taking our concerns back to the USDA. We so appreciated his remarks and look forward to working with USDA as the Farm Bill is crafted.”
Speaking to farmers following the session, New Jersey FSA State Director Paul Hlubik said the feedback was extremely positive and complimentary.
At the convention, Scuse met with Governor Chris Christie and the New Jersey Board of Agriculture. Christie spoke to the convention’s 600 attendees.
