New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has joined Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) and the New York Farm Bureau Foundation for Agricultural Education Inc. providing feed and cash assistance to farmers in New York who have been severely affected by the recent flooding.

Called the Emergency Forage Exchange and the Feed and Forage Transportation Fund, the efforts include an online database of forage resources available to affected farmers at http://emergencyresponse.cce.cornell.edu. CCE will maintain the Web site until the end of the year to help match regional forage availability with needs.

Farmers who want to donate or sell forage or are in need of forage should call their local county Cornell Cooperative Extension office regarding the exchange.

The fund will collect tax-deductible donations to assist farmers who have lost feed and forage necessary to feed their livestock. To donate or request assistance, call the foundation office at (800) 342-4143 or go online at http://www.nyfbfoundation.org/ until Sept. 30.

Farms in central and eastern New York continue to experience the effects of a devastating growing season. In some areas, excessive spring rains delayed or prevented planting. Record-setting heavy rains at the end of June and the severe flooding that followed resulted in severe crop losses, farmland damage and property damage to farmers in Central New York, the Mohawk Valley, the western Catskills and the Southern Tier. The Farm Service Agency reports severe crop losses in 20 counties on more than 290,000 acres with a value of more than $40.2 million.

"In emergency situations such as the flooding that occurred in June, the Cornell Cooperative Extension system provides an important link that enables us to deliver resources of the land-grant university to the people of New York," said Helene R. Dillard, director of CCE.

"We are in a dire situation, with many of our farmers in the flood region losing a significant portion of their hay and corn for the year," added John Lincoln, president of New York Farm Bureau, board member of the foundation and a dairy farmer in Bloomfield, N.Y. The funds, he said, will help offset the costs of trucking feed to farmers who are most in need.

"Many farmers have suffered devastating losses from the recent flooding, and this program will help them obtain critical resources to make it through the rest of this growing season," said Clinton. "We need to continue to work together to help those that have suffered to get back on their feet."

While all crop producers have suffered serious losses, livestock and dairy farmers were especially hard hit. Corn and hay, which are critical for providing animal feed, accounted for more than 90 percent of crop losses, according to Clinton's office. Many farms not only lost their planted crops, but also their stored and standing crops used for current feed supply.