Disaster aid was discussed in a roundtable with North Dakota farm groups and Senator John Hoeven on Thursday. Hoeven says progress is being made in discussions with the USDA. “We’re making good progress in providing assistance for sugarbeet producers. I hope to have this squared away with the USDA in the next few weeks and get it out.” Hoeven says there are also discussions happening on quality loss adjustments, which can get tricky when working with more than one crop. One model being considered is called the SURE plan, but Hoeven says broad support is needed on a national level for the plan. “It stands for the Supplemental Revenue Assistance plan. It’s based on an approach put together in the 2008 Farm Bill. It provides a quality loss adjustment or additional assistance based on the difference between the local price the producer gets for the crop compared to the RMA average price for the crop. That difference is how they determine the quality loss assistance the producer gets.”
