Help still available for farmers hurt by drought

For the hundreds of local farmers, 2016 will be remembered for its devastating drought, but there is financial assistance available to help make 2017 a better year. 

Tuesday will be the last chance Cullman County farmers needing hay for livestock can sign up with the Cullman Soil and Water Conservation District Office to reserve bales at $30 each. Dozens have already filed their applications and secured thousands of bales of hay that local organizations have hauled in from out of state.

The Cullman Soil and Water Conservation District Office will be closed Monday in observance of the federal holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr. but will reopen Tuesday. The office is located at 501B Fourth St. S.W. in Cullman in the Cullman USDA building and will close at 4 p.m.

Applications will be processed on a first come-first served basis. Hay is limited and will be distributed on at rationed amounts.

Once a farmer is approved, they will be contacted with a pick-up time and amount of hay that they have been approved for. The hay is being warehoused at the Cullman Agricultural Trade Center on U.S. 31.

The Cullman County Commission, Cullman County Cattleman Association, Cullman County Farmer’s Federation, Cullman Soil and Water Conservation District Office and Cullman County Economic Development have joined together to form the Cullman County Hay Relief Program.

But besides the local effort to help farmers who watched their crops wither and ponds dry up, federal assistance is also available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

All 67 counties in Alabama have been designated natural disaster areas due to losses caused by the drought. That means qualified farm operators are eligible for low interest emergency (EM) loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met.

Farmers have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.

FSA has a variety of programs to help eligible farmers recover, including the Emergency Conservation Program; Livestock Forage Disaster Program; Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP); Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program; and the Tree Assistance Program.

Interested farmers can contact the Cullman County Farm Service Agency for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs.

In particular, the Livestock Indemnity Program provides assistance to eligible producers for livestock death losses in excess of normal mortality due to adverse weather and attacks by animals reintroduced into the wild by the federal government or protected by federal law.

For 2016, eligible losses must occur on or after Jan. 1, 2016, and no later than 60 calendar days from the ending date of the applicable adverse weather event or attack.

A notice of loss must be filed with FSA within 30 days of when the loss of livestock is apparent. Participants must provide the following supporting documentation to their local FSA office no later than 90 calendar days after the end of the calendar year in which the eligible loss condition occurred.

• Proof of death documentation

• Copy of growers contracts

• Proof of normal mortality documentation

Producers who suffer livestock losses in 2016 must file both of the following:

• A notice of loss the earlier of 30 calendar days of when the loss was apparent or by January 30, 2017.

• An application for payment by March 30, 2017.

The U.S. Farm Service Agency encourages producers to consider USDA crop risk protection options, including federal crop insurance and Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) coverage, before the applicable crop sales deadline.

More information is also available online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.

According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor, 67.3 percent of Cullman County remains in “extreme drought” (D3) which is just one level below the worst designation while the rest are in “severe drought” (D2).

 

Tiffeny Owens can be reached at 256-734-2131, ext. 135.