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ASI calls for continued funding to wildfire relief in Farm Bill

An American Sheep Industry (ASI) leader is calling for continued funding of wildfire disaster relief programs in the next Farm Bill.

Bob Buchholz, an ASI Executive Board member, told a House Ag subcommittee this week disaster relief programs are crucial to help producers recover from wildfires.

“The Livestock Indemnity program will help producers recover part of the value of those lost livestock. The value of these programs devastated by natural disasters is a financial saver and will allow many of them continued ranching,” says Buchholz.

Buchholz raises sheep in Texas, the largest sheep producing state in the country. He said his ranch was impacted by a wildfire during the 2011 drought.

“My ranch was part of a 252,000 acre fire that burned part of Crockett and Val Verde Counties. Fences improvements were burned to the ground. Without disaster programs that helped me and my fellow livestock producers, I would not be ranching today,” says Buchholz.

Buchholz says he didn’t lose any livestock in that fire but many farmers and ranchers did, following the Great Plains wildfires earlier this month.

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