USDA Ready to Help New York Farmers Recover from Recent Disasters

SYRACUSE—Recent extreme weather conditions have impacted farmers across New York. According to a press release issued on Friday, July 19, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the Farm Service Agency, has disaster assistance programs available to help agricultural producers recover after natural disasters, including tornadoes, high winds and floods.

“FSA offers a variety of disaster assistance programs to support farmers and ranchers through times of adversity,” said Jim Barber, state executive director for FSA in New York. “Many disaster programs have a 30-day window to report losses, so once producers are able to evaluate their losses, it is important to contact the local FSA office to report all damages and losses and learn more about how we can assist.”

FSA offers a number of programs to help producers recover from losses, including the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP), Emergency Forest Restoration Program and the Tree Assistance Program. Producers located in counties receiving a primary or contiguous disaster designation are eligible for low-interest emergency loans to help them recover from production and physical losses.