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For example, turfgrass sod farms were damaged during the recent midwestern floods. 

 However, USDA's PAD manual governing loss determinations indicates that turfgrass must 

 be dead to qualify for disaster assistance. 3 Yet, turfgrass can be rendered economically 

 worthless by a flood or other natural disaster without being technically dead. A grower may 

 have to plow-up a field of turfgrass and replant and treat it after a disaster even though it is 

 not dead. This not only results in a significant loss from being unable to harvest and sell the 

 crop, but requires the additional costs of having to replant it. 



If a field of turfgrass is not rendered totally worthless, its harvest may be delayed a 

 considerable time until it is able to recover from the ravages that flooding or drought 

 imposes upon it. This creates extreme hardship for a turfgrass sod farmer who loses income 

 from his inability to sell his crop at the intended time. 



ASCS officials also have a difficult time in determining the value of turfgrass sod 

 damaged by a disaster. This is in part because it is not sold like annual or other typical 

 agricultural crops. Turfgrass sod takes over a year to produce for market and can be carried 

 unharvested over a considerable period of time before it is sold. Thus, ASCS officials are 

 finding it more difficult to assess its value and approve relief assistance. 



The value of an acre of turfgrass is among the highest of all commodities because of 

 the extensive in-put requirements to produce a high quality sod product. While row crops 

 may have $150 per acre production in-put costs, a sod field will typically have in-put 

 production costs of $1,500 to $2,500 per acre. The value of turfgrass sod fields exceeds that 

 of traditional crops; however, ASCS has so little experience with our commodity that it can 

 easily undervalue the cost of the lost turfgrass acreage. 



As noted, these problems have surfaced in the recent disasters. For example, one of 

 ASPA's members in Minnesota applied for relief assistance in the Spring of 1993 and to this 

 day has been unable to obtain assistance. The farmer in question operates a turfgrass sod 

 operation damaged in a natural disaster. His farm has been determined to be eligible for 

 relief assistance. However, the state ASCS office has been unable to calculate a rate and 

 yield for his sod farm. As a consequence, the local ASCS cannot process his disaster 

 assistance application any further. Something needs to be done to facilitate the processing 

 and decision-making on sod farms determined to be eligible for assistance. 



Another example involves ASPA members who farm in Missouri and Illinois affected 

 by the recent floods who suffered significant losses but cannot recover any disaster relief. In 

 that case, USDA's eligibility requirements imposed an unreasonable impediment to relief. 

 The case in question involved three brothers each owning a turfgrass sod farm but 

 jointly held in a corporate form. Although all of their farms, located in four counties of two 

 states, suffered substantial losses from the flood estimated at $4.7 million, they could not 



3 Department of Agriculture, Eligible Crops, 1-PAD (Rev.2) Amend.6, 1-9-92. 



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