Sonny Bono: “as many of my colleagues may know, a wheat fungus called karnal bunt was found this spring in Texas, New Mexico…”

“as many of my colleagues may know, a wheat fungus called karnal bunt was found this spring in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Many areas were placed under quarantine by USDA. This means that no wheat infected with karnal bunt can leave the quarantine area, and wheat free of karnal bunt can be sold only under specific conditions. Karnal bunt is a staggering problem in a year when drought already has troubled the Nation's wheat supply. The USDA has implemented compensation plans in Texas and New Mexico for farmers who suffered losses from the quarantine. However, despite weekly promises for 2 months from the USDA, no compensation plan has been released to California farmers. The only thing the Department has told the farmers is, that some will be compensated, and a plan will be released next Tuesday. The USDA has been making this promise over and over for 2 months and has not delivered. In other words, these farmers have been left in the dark--with no end in sight. These farmers do not know how they will be treated by the USDA, who will be compensated for losses from the quarantine, and what is the official policy. The Department's inaction has caused our farmers more uncertainty and anxiety, when they already have to deal with the devastation of a quarantine on their best crop in 20 years. Our farmers deserve better. They deserve timely and thorough information, not unfulfilled promises and uncertainty. This amendment is simple.…”