Farm Disaster Assistance Act of 1987

(Conference report filed in House, H. Rept. 100-91)

Farm Disaster Assistance Act of 1987 - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to exempt 1987 winter wheat producers from the acreage diversion program (50/92 program) requirement that at least 50 percent of permitted wheat acreage be planted in order to receive deficiency payments. Authorizes all or any part of such acreage to be used for conservation purposes.

Provides similar 1987 exemptions for: (1) wheat producers whose farms are eligible for Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act disaster emergency loans as a result of 1986 disaster-prevented plantings; and (2) wheat, rice, feed grain, and upland cotton producers eligible for such loans and subject to flooding on at least 50 percent of their permitted acreage resulting from 1986 flood-damaged levees.

Directs the Secretary of Agriculture, to the extent provided for by advance appropriations, to make full payment in the form of Commodity Credit Corporation generic negotiable commodity certificates for disaster claims under the Agriculture, Rural Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1987. Directs the Secretary to make supplemental payments to producers who have received partial payments prior to the enactment of this Act.

Amends the Agriculture, Rural Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1987 to make the following eligible for crop disaster payments: (1) apples ruined by 1986 freezes; (2) soybeans or peanuts whose planting (including 1985 planting) was prevented by natural disaster or other conditions beyond the farmer's control; (3) hay and straw that was harvested in 1986, stored on fields, and carried off by floods; (4) sugar beets or sugar cane that was not planted due to the 1985 Great Western Sugar Company bankruptcy, according to county committee determinations of eligible acreage; and (5) certain program and nonprogram crops in Maine.

Requires assistance applications regarding hay, straw, apples, and Maine program or nonprogram crops to be filed within 30 days of enactment of this Act.

Limits aggregate hay and straw payments to: (1) $20,000 for an individual producer; and (2) $1,000,000 for all eligible producers. Limits apple payments to amounts provided in advance by an appropriation Act.

Provides, with regard to crop losses in Maine, that: (1) payments shall be made only as provided for in advance by an appropriation Act; (2) aggregate producer payments may not exceed $1,000,000; and (3) assistance applications must be filed within 30 days of enactment of this Act.

States that appropriations made pursuant to this Act shall be made in accordance with the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) as amended, so that the FY 1987 deficit shall not be increased.

Directs the Chief of Engineers, in deciding whether or not a particular Great Lakes emergency flood protection project is justified, to consider the benefit of protecting against crop losses and residential and commercial losses.

Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to review the manner in which the Department of Agriculture is implementing the exceptions to the three-year ownership requirement in order to assure that the inclusion of producer-owned land in the conservation reserve program is encouraged.

Amends the Agriculture, Rural Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1987 to provide emergency disaster assistance to upland cotton producers who suffered crop quality reduction caused by drought, flood, hail, or excessive moisture in 1986. Limits aggregate producer payments to not more than $15,000,000.

Directs the Secretary to designate specified flooded areas in South Dakota as "wetlands" under the Water Bank Act. Limits FY 1987 payments to affected owners and operators to a maximum of $1,243,000.

Directs the Secretary to appoint a panel to conduct an ethanol cost effectiveness study. Requires a report to the appropriate congressional committees within 90 days of enactment of this Act.

Directs the Secretary to submit a marketing loan report to the appropriate congressional committees by July 1, 1987, if a marketing loan program is not established for the 1987 crops of wheat, feed grains, and soybeans.

Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to establish price supports (at eight and one-half cents per pound) for the 1987 through 1990 sunflower crops.