WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, released the following statement today after learning of the Risk Management Agency’s (RMA) assurance to farmers along the flooded Missouri River that crop insurance will cover any damages caused by the flooding:
“Mother Nature has not been kind to the Great Plains and Midwest this year, and I appreciate everything RMA is doing to help Kansas farmers and ranchers during this challenging time,” said Roberts. “During times like this, when the state is being ravaged with both droughts and floods from one end to the other, any assistance offered to our producers is of tremendous comfort.”
On Monday, Sen. Roberts sent a letter to RMA asking for their assurance that farmers and ranchers would indeed be able to use crop insurance to cover losses due to the flooding, even if it was due to a levee breach or overtopping. In response to his letter, RMA notified farmers and ranchers all covered losses would be insured.
For more information, producers can visit RMA’s website by
clicking here .
Full text of the senator’s letter sent to RMA is below:
I appreciate all the Risk Management Agency (RMA) does to help Kansas farmers and ranchers manage their risk. In years like this when the state is being ravaged simultaneously by droughts and floods, the critical nature of the work you do is abundantly clear.
A combination of excessive spring rains and above-average snowpack from the Rocky Mountains and Northern Plains is causing the Missouri River to reach historically high levels. The overflowing banks of the Missouri River are wreaking havoc on farmland in several states, including Kansas, and the devastation is expected to continue as levees begin to breach.
The Army Corp of Engineers is working to minimize and manage the flooding through controlled releases from six mainstream dams, but these releases leave many farmers and ranchers wondering if the crop insurance they purchased this spring will help them with the losses they are facing this summer. RMA provided timely guidance to farmers along the Mississippi River to reassure them that crop insurance would cover their losses. I would strongly encourage RMA to provide this same guidance to the farmers and ranchers of Northeast Kansas and all along the Missouri River. I would also appreciate any additional information you can provide about the assistance that RMA will be able to offer our producers during these trying times.
I look forward to continuing to work with RMA on this and other issues critical to producers’ ability to manage their risk in the most challenging of times.
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