$62 million in Utah aid for farmers

The Utah Farm Service Agency delivered more than $62 million in payments and assistance to farmers and ranchers during fiscal 2004.

Farmers in Box Elder County received the most farm program assistance, at $9.27 million, according to the report, "FSA at Work Across Utah — Fiscal Year 2004." Cache County was second, at $3.56 million, followed by Duchesne County at $3.17 million and San Juan County, $2.77 million. Those figures do not include commodity or farm loans.

"It has been a very difficult five or six years," said Boyd Critchfield, Utah FSA executive director. "We have had secretarial disaster designations (by the U.S. Department of Agriculture) for each of the last three or four years. This year was no exception."

The Utah FSA distributed $16.6 million in disaster assistance funding to Utah producers, including $8.1 million through the "non-insured crop disaster assistance program," which provides help for farmers when natural disasters result in low crop yields or a loss of inventory, or when planting was prevented because of a natural disaster.

Another $4.4 million went to crop disaster assistance, a program for farmers who suffered crop losses due to adverse weather and other natural disasters during the 2001 and 2002 fiscal years.

In addition, the FSA reported that it made $20.54 million in direct and guaranteed farm loans, including money for operations, ownership and emergencies. The FSA loans are extended to eligible producers who operate family size farms and ranches, who are temporarily unable to secure other forms of credit.

Straight comparison numbers for fiscal year 2003 were unavailable Thursday. But Stevin Westcott, the FSA's Washington, D.C., spokesman, said that from the signing of the 2002 Farm Bill in May 2002 until the end of fiscal year 2003, total payments made in Utah were $43.39 million. Those payments included everything from the FSA's livestock assistance program to the apple market assistance program, Westcott said.

"Payments depend on a lot of things, like the markets, the weather, infestations or fungus," Westcott said. "The amount will vary from year to year."

Critchfield declined to speculate on payment or assistance levels in fiscal 2005. But, he said, there is cause for optimism that farming conditions will improve. Unlike last year, when extreme weather, insect infestations and drought led to the entire state receiving disaster designation, some counties along the Wasatch Mountain range did not request disaster assistance this year. That included Weber, Davis, Morgan and Uintah counties, Critchfield said.