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Hurricane Florence legislative information for NC farmers
Story Date: 10/26/2018
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Source: NCDA&CS, 10/25/18
• The North Carolina General Assembly appropriated approximately $800 million from the Rainy-Day Fund to be used for Hurricane Florence relief. About $400 million of the full appropriation was authorized for immediate use in areas such as public safety, education, agriculture, health & human services, transportation and environmental quality.
• $20 million was appropriated to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (NCDA&CS) to be used as a loan to pay for contracts for composting, carbon sourcing, landfill transportation and tipping fees for livestock mortality until the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reimburses the Department.
• In addition, $50 million was also appropriated to the NCDA&CS to assist farmers with recovery activities such as hay relief, pasture renovation, non-field farm road repair, best management practices, reforestation efforts, and to provide matches for federal funds as needed. This funding is intended to be used in conjunction with existing United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) cost share programs.
• NCDA&CS is developing a program to directly assist farmers with losses in the designated disaster declared counties with funding coming from a portion of the remaining balance of $400 million. This program will be in conjunction with the Farm Service Agency (FSA). Designated counties are specified in the law as those affected by Hurricane Florence. The farm must be located in counties designated under a major disaster declaration by the President of the United States as a result of Hurricane Florence or is included in a Secretarial Disaster Declaration for Hurricane Florence issued by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture or the Presidential Federal Emergency Management Agency Declaration for Hurricane Florence.
• The General Assembly plans to return on November 27th, 2018 to provide direction on how the remaining balance of $400 million will be allocated.
• The extent of any financial assistance for farmers will be dependent upon the amount of appropriation allocated by the NC General Assembly.
We will continue this conversation during our meeting and discuss logistics of the program.
Respectfully,
Laura Kilian
Legislative Director
NC Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services
Cell: (919) 604-2197
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