Tuesday, June 11, 2019

USDA promises quick disaster aid for Southern farmers and forest owners hit in 2018; the latter may take some finagling

Now that the disaster-aid bill is law, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue promised that the Department of Agriculture will quickly get help to Southeastern farmers and forest owners whose products were damaged by Hurricane Michael in 2018. "The Category 5 storm in October 2018 tore through Florida’s top lumber producing counties and dealt about $1.3 billion in damage to the state’s timber sector," Ryan McCrimmon reports for Politico's "Morning Agriculture."

Since the USDA doesn't usually help with timber losses, "Aiding tree farmers could require some creativity from federal and state officials," McCrimmon reports. "Florida and Georgia lawmakers last week asked Perdue to design forest restoration block grants that cover debris removal and replanting costs and compensate forest owners for the value of the trees they lost in the storm. The USDA chief on Friday suggested the program could be similar to block grants for the citrus industry."

No comments: