Congressman's First Bill Aims to Protect Farmers

Enlarge image

A Congressman from New York’s Hudson Valley is introducing his first bill, and it has to do with agriculture.

Democratic Representative Sean Patrick Maloney is introducing The CROP Act, which aims to reform crop insurance and help specialty-crop farmers. CROP stands for Creating Reliability for Our Producers, and Maloney says the Act will help specialty-crop producers manage their risk by encouraging the development of new and improved insurance plans for underserved crops. Last month, Maloney held a town-hall meeting on agriculture in Orange County, and he says he heard from farmers that Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture must do a better job of protecting farmers, especially in the aftermath of such devastating storms like Hurricane Irene.