Penn. Agrees to Ag Insurance Measure

The Pennsylvania State Senate earlier this week gave unanimous approval to an amendment proposed by Sen. Noah Wenger (R) which would give farmers continued access to state funds for subsidized crop insurance.

Wenger aimed Senate Bill 793 at ensuring that current crop insurance funds would remain in a current program until the money is used up. The bill would also move unallocated drought relief funds to the crop insurance program. Finally, the measure continues the “sunset date” for the state’s orchard and nursery indemnity program to June 30, 2002.

The 1999 Drought, Orchard and Nursery Indemnity and Flood Relief Act allocated $60 million for emergency drought relief and $5.6 million in crop insurance assistance for Pennsylvania farmers. The current law is set to expire and $3.5 million of the insurance assistance program is currently unspent. According to Wenger, that money will go into the state’s general fund on June 30 unless the legislature acts.

The proposed bill now moves to the state House for consideration.