Press Release 12/22/2006 #2
Contact: Public Affairs (404) 656-3689
Georgia’s peanut farmers slated to receive more than
$11 million in crop loss payments ordered by S.C. judge
Georgia peanut farmers, the most prolific in the nation, could receive $11.7 million in federal crop insurance funds if the U. S. Department of Agriculture recalculates its insured crop loss figures as a U.S. District judge ruled earlier this week.
“This is an important decision,” says Georgia Agriculture Commission Tommy Irvin. “Our peanut farmers would get more than a third of the $30 million national package. Georgia is the nation’s largest and most successful peanut producer and this decision will have a positive influence on those who have filed claims.”
On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Malcolm Howard, Greenville, SC, signed a judgment ordering the USDA to adjust upwards nearly $30 million in 2002 crop loss claims filed by peanut farmers in seven southern states.
The USDA told farmers that they would receive 17.75 cents per pound of crop loss vs. the 31 cents per pound that they insured. In ’02 the peanut crop was affected by drought during the growing season and heavy rains during harvest.
Recalculated benefit checks are not in the holiday mail, Irvin says. The USDA has the automatic right to appeal the court order through the appellate courts.
The judgment will pay specific farmers who filed peanut crop loss claims in ’02 the following amounts:
Georgia: 1,641 farmers, $11.7 million
Alabama: 625 farmers, $7.6 million
Florida: 188 farmers, $1 million
South Carolina: 21 farmers, $172,683
North Carolina: 705 farmers, $3.5 million
Virginia: 332 farmers, $2.4 million
Texas: 367 farmers, $3.4 million.
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