I received your letter regarding the drought in Alabama.  I appreciate hearing from you and wanted to provide you and update on this important issue.

As you know, Alabama continues to suffer from a historic drought.  Alabama’s agriculture sector has suffered under high heat and little to no rain conditions, resulting in a severe lack of hay for livestock.  In addition, we also experienced a late season freeze last April.  As a result, farmers are forced to thin their cattle herds, further reducing producer income and leading to long-term negative consequences for livestock producers.  The drought has also substantially reduced the potential harvest of corn, cotton, and soybeans. Finally, the high cost of inputs, including diesel fuel and fertilizers, have left farmers particularly vulnerable and unable to fix this situation.  

While the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has provided some assistance, it has not been enough, especially for my farmers in North Alabama.  I continue to work with my colleagues in the House to address this issue, most recently in the recently signed H.R. 2764, the Fiscal Year 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act.  This legislation provides an additional $600 million for drought relief for farmers in North Alabama and across the country who were adversely affected by drought in 2007.  This new relief will aid the $3 billion in emergency funding to aid farmers recovering from drought stricken areas in years 2005-2007. 

In addition, I personally addressed the President onboard Air Force One for drought relief during his trip to North Alabama.  I also helped to have the USDA designate Alabama as a primary natural disaster area, which makes available low-interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency (FSA) for farmers in all sixty-seven counties.

I will continue to point out to my House colleagues and Administration officials the hardships North Alabama farmers are facing and I will continue to push for further relief.