The US Senate recently passed a one-year extension of US$31 billion in tax breaks for farmers and poultry producers.

The tax relief will benefit farmers affected by weather-related disasters, and provides emergency loans for poultry growers whose contracts were cancelled as a result of the Pilgrim's Pride bankruptcy filing.

The Tax Extenders Act of 2009 passed the Senate on a 62 to 36 vote.

The legislation would provide US$75 million in emergency loans to poultry producers, US$50 million in assistance for livestock producers and US$300 million to assist specialty crop producers. Biodiesel and renewable diesel tax credits were also included. The total disaster section approved by the Senate totalled US$1.5 billion.

The poultry provision would allow growers to obtain emergency loans if their contracts were cancelled by an integrator that filed bankruptcy during a specified period of time and no similar contract was subsequently awarded.

A narrower version of the extenders bill that only applied to taxes has already been passed by the US House of Representatives. A conference committee will be necessary to resolve differences before the bill can be sent to the president for signing into law.