Brown: Any National Disaster Package Must Deliver for Ohio Farmers Devastated by Historic Drought

CLEVELAND, OH - U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is demanding that any national disaster package put together by Congress deliver for Ohio farmers affected by historic drought.

As Congress considers a national emergency disaster package in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Brown is making clear that any package must include emergency disaster assistance for Ohio farmers who are facing the worst drought in decades. Brown is also pushing his colleagues to include support for Ohio farmers facing drought in the next government funding package.

"Ohio farmers are facing a historic drought, and any disaster package must provide the support they need to come out of this crisis," said Brown. "We will not let Ohio farmers and the communities hurt by drought be forgotten - and I will fight to ensure that they have what they need to make it through this crisis."

Drought conditions started in Ohio back in mid-June, intensified throughout summer, and are expected to continue into the fall and potentially into the winter, affecting spring planting season. Half of Ohio's 88 counties are currently covered by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) disaster designations - an occurrence without any recent comparison. In response to the drought conditions, USDA has issued five natural disaster designations (Aug. 30, Sept. 3, Sept. 9, Sept. 16, and Oct. 1) which have in total designated 44 counties as primary disaster counties with an additional 12 counties classified as contiguous. USDA has made a number of disaster and emergency programs available to farmers struggling with the drought but Brown is concerned it will not be enough to help Ohio farmers and rural communities weather this historic drought. Brown is also concerned that many Ohio farms that are feeling the full brunt of the disaster are smaller operations, diversified farms, and agritourism operations in which current risk management and disaster assistance tools are not suited for their operations.

Brown, the first Ohioan to serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee in nearly 50 years and a long time leader for Ohio rural communities, has been fighting for Ohio farmers during this historic drought. In early September, Brown hosted a webinar to help connect farmers and agriculture leaders with permanent Farm Bill disaster assistance programs available through the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA). In September, Brown also hosted a conference call with Ohio Farm Bureau Executive Vice President, Adam Sharp and Ohio FSA State Executive Direct Dr. John Patterson to draw further attention to this historic drought. Brown has also called on the USDA to provide additional flexibility for Ohio farmers experiencing drought conditions to conduct emergency haying and grazing on Conservation Reserve Program enrolled land.

In addition to pushing for support for Ohio agriculture, Brown is working to ensure that any disaster relief and government funding package fully invests in the low-interest loan program for small businesses like those in downtown Youngstown affected by the Realty Tower explosion. Last week, Brown pushed the administration to approve Governor DeWine's request to make Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) available to Youngstown businesses.

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