U.S. Custom Harvesters Inc. is asking Congress to dedicate $250 million from USDA’s disaster assistance package to help harvest crews recover from a difficult season. “A lot of our guys lost 25 percent of their total revenue for the year before they ever even got started,” said Raph Jolliffe, president, USCHI, noting crews still faced equipment, labor and insurance costs despite fewer acres to harvest. Jolliffe said farmers have crop insurance to survive difficult years, “and that’s something the harvesters have never had,” making federal assistance critical to keeping those businesses operating into next season.
