The Tennessee Farm Bureau has new figures on how bad this year’s rollercoaster weather has hurt the state’s agriculture industry. As of October 1st, farmers had lost 850-million dollars.

Congressman Lincoln Davis, who sits on the House Agriculture Committee, said yesterday he’s redoubling an effort to get Tennessee farmers money they need to stay in business. Congress has declared the state an agriculture disaster area, but that only qualifies farmers for low-interest emergency loans.

Davis and the rest of the Tennessee delegation are pushing to expand a disaster assistance package that was approved earlier this year. To qualify for the money, damage had to have occurred by the end of February. If extended to the end of the year like Davis wants, the package would cover Tennessee farmers too, who experienced a late freeze at Easter and record dry conditions since then.

“This means that farmers will be able to get help for both the freeze and the drought. The way it is now, they may be left holding the bag without either of them.”

If that cut-off day can be moved, Davis says he’ll work with Representatives from Alabama and Georgia to add more money to the pot – likely in the billions of dollars. But getting it through Congress will take some work. The appropriation would most likely be included in the next supplemental spending bill for the Iraq war.