Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 6/10/19

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Friday promised USDA will move quickly to aid southeastern farmers and forest owners affected by Hurricane Michael, Pro Florida's Bruce Ritchie reports from Tallahassee. 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.

Aiding tree farmers could require some creativity from federal and state officials. During a meeting with Florida leaders and agriculture industry members, Perdue noted timber isn't a "standard safety net crop that USDA deals with on a regular basis."

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.

Big picture: USDA's disaster aid implementation comes as weather continues to pose headaches for farmers and ranchers across

the country. In the Midwest, crops growers are way behind schedule as heavy rains have delayed planting. Over the weekend, Trump approved disaster declarations for Arkansas and South Dakota stemming from severe storms and flooding in recent months.
Farm-state lawmakers want USDA to quickly implement cover crop rules for acres that farmers were unable to plant because of the wet weather. Bipartisan senators from Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota and other states wrote a letter to USDA Undersecretary Bill Northey asking him to speed up new rules under the 2018 farm bill that would "provide important flexibility and greater certainty for farmers to harvest, graze and terminate cover crops" and remain eligible for crop insurance on their primary cash crop.