State Unveils Farm Recovery Grant Program

Targeted News Service

BATON ROUGE, La., June 30 -- The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry issued the following news:

Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M., said farmers and ranchers in 51 Louisiana parishes could be eligible for recovery grant money as a result of the flood events in March and August of 2016.

"Informational meetings will be held across the state to assist producers with the application process," Strain said. "Our agricultural producers must meet certain requirements for eligibility. Meeting times and locations will be released at a later date."

This $10 million grant is funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (as Community Development Block Disaster Recovery Program {CDBG}grant funds). The Office of Community Development, Disaster Recovery Unit, receives the CDBG disaster recovery grant funds from HUD. The Louisiana Department of Agriculture of Forestry will then administer the program. The funding is part of the $1.6 billion congressional appropriation for Restore Louisiana.

"Conventional disaster programs like low-interest disaster loans and crop insurance are often inadequate when our farmers are impacted by major disasters like the flooding of 2016," Strain said. "We worked to secure this funding to help fill gaps to ensure our farmers can get back on their feet and continue producing high quality agricultural food and fiber for years to come."

Producers with pre-storm annual gross farm revenue of $25,000 in the years 2014, 2015 or 2016 are eligible to apply.

Crop loss must amount to a minimum of $10,000 as calculated by the crop loss calculator. Eligible crops include: cotton, corn, crawfish, grain sorghum, rice, hay, soybeans, sweet potatoes, sugarcane, strawberries, wheat and cattle.

Eligible parishes include: Acadia, Allen, Ascension, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Calcasieu, Caldwell, Catahoula, Claiborne, DeSoto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Iberia, Iberville, Jackson, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Ouachita, Point Coupee, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. James, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Union, Vermilion, Vernon, Washington, Webster, West Baton Rouge, West Carroll, West Feliciana and Winn.