The Senate Appropriations Committee held a hearing Wednesday on the $100 billion request for disaster funding from the Biden Administration.

Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) kicked off the discussion by outlining some of the devastating losses experienced in Georgia by agricultural producers as a results of Hurricane Helene. “Hurricane-force winds and torrential rains destroyed fall crops still in the field, knocked down pecan orchards that growers spent decades cultivating, and damaged a million and a half acres of timberland,” said Ossoff. “Virtually every crop and commodity produced in Georgia has been seriously damaged, including poultry, cotton, timber, beef cattle, blueberries, pecans, peanuts, tobacco, vegetables, citrus, soybeans, nursery crops, and dairy.”

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) talked about the tremendous damage that has been felt by farmers and ranchers in his part of the country due to drought. “Drought is something that is so discouraging, so depressing,” said Moran, noting that drought reduced the wheat crop in his state of Kansas by almost 80 percent. “We’ve not had a wheat crop this small since 1961, because we can’t grow a crop.”

USDA Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small testified on the work the department has been doing to work with farmers and ranchers impacted by disasters. “Due to the level of devastation resulting not only from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, but also from historic droughts, flooding, and wildfires over the past several years, USDA needs additional tools and flexibilities to comprehensively address the challenges being experienced across the country,” she said in her prepared testimony. “We urge Congress to work together to quickly provide funding for needed relief to farmers, ranchers, private forest landowners, and rural communities.”