11 



Mr. Lewis. 



Mr. Lewis. Mr. Weber, there are a lot of complicated issues in- 

 volved with statutes and law, but we seem to have a disaster pro- 

 gram that is very complicated. Maybe it is not to you and members 

 of the Department, but it certainly is a complicated issue when you 

 are an individual who has been affected by a disaster. 



With all of the statements about, well, we will take care of it no 

 matter what your production is, the quality and things of this na- 

 ture, growers don't want to hear that. All they know is they lost 

 what could be their livelihood. 



In Dade County when we lost the trees, we got into a real taffy 

 pull with the Department to find out why the disaster doesn't cover 

 the lime trees under the tree assistance program even though 

 changes were made in the system to allow this to take place. 



There are other areas of tree losses which producers were sus- 

 tained 100 percent of the tree loss if they present evidence that 

 they intend to continue an orchard crop as accepted by the COC. 



Given your position with USDA, what do you think needs to be 

 done to streamline our disaster program? Either we have one that 

 works or we get rid of it entirely. 



Too often sitting on this committee I have seen situations where 

 it looks like favoritism is being played. I realize this is not happen- 

 ing, but the favoritism did play when the legislation was written. 



I often wonder why the Department doesn't come back and say 

 this should be flattened out so it is more fair across the board. 

 Could you respond to some of my comments? 



Mr. Weber. Mr. Lewis, I totally agree with you that our pro- 

 grams are very confusing. The statutory authority itself is very 

 confusing. I would be the first to agree with you that it needs to 

 be looked at and needs to be made less confusing. 



The Secretary is looking at reforming Federal crop insurance to 

 somehow try to get away from the dual programs that we have 

 been confronted with over the last 7 years, the ad hoc disaster. 

 However, that program will be coming forward very soon. 



That will be a part of the process in trying to decide what best 

 can be done with regard to disaster. 



But it was obvious to me as I visited Florida and saw the devas- 

 tation and looked at the kinds of production that they have down 

 there, the same in Hawaii, that our disaster programs certainly 

 were not written to accommodate those situations very well, and 

 that it would seem to me very appropriate that we should work to- 

 ward making some changes as we look down the road on disaster 

 programs. 



Mr. Lewis. Does the Secretary have a suggested list? You say he 

 is trying to streamline it. Do you have a suggested list you might 

 be bringing before this subcommittee from the Department in order 

 to flatten this out, or are we going to negotiate every time we have 

 a disaster, go through the statutes which are very complicated and 

 in essence hide behind them? 



Mr. Weber. The Secretary is developing a program that he will 

 be coming forward with on reforming Federal crop insurance. We 

 have talked with the industry and met with all interested folks so 

 that the recommendation coming forward we hope will be more 

 streamlined and more acceptable to the farm community. 



