(Albany, NY) — New York Farm Bureau is encouraging farmers affected by Hurricane Irene to carefully document their damage and report to the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA).

“We’re telling our farmers to take photos, take notes and make sure they have a record even if they don’t know the full extent of the damage,” said Dean Norton, President of New York Farm Bureau.

The New York Farm Bureau website www.nyfb.org and the FSA website have a list of the federal agricultural relief programs that are available.

New York Farm Bureau is working with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and Governor Cuomo’s office on attaining federal disaster declarations specifically for agriculture for the counties that need it.

Farm Bureau is also hoping for quick restoration of ruined roads and bridges in rural areas where farms have daily transport needs for feed, fuel and milk hauling.

Federal disaster declaration status is necessary to access the disaster assistance program from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or the Small Business Administration (SBA).

In general, FSA provides emergency loans to help producers recover from production and physical losses due to drought, flooding or other natural disasters.

Emergency loans may be made to farmers who:

own or operate land in a county declared a disaster area or a contiguous county;
are established family farm operators and have sufficient farming or ranching experience; have suffered at least a 30 percent loss in crop production or a physical loss to livestock, livestock products, real estate or chattel property;
have an acceptable credit history;
are unable to receive credit from commercial sources;
can provide collateral to secure the loan; and
have repayment ability.

Loans for crop, livestock and non-real estate losses are normally repaid within 1 to 7 years, depending on the loan purpose, repayment ability and collateral available as loan security.

In special circumstances, terms of up to 20 years may be authorized.

Loans for physical losses to real estate are normally repaid within 30 years. In certain circumstances, repayment may be made over a maximum of 40 years.

In addition to loans, disaster declaration will make farms eligible for livestock indemnity and some other programs.

NYFB is exploring additional avenues that could provide assistance to affected farmers and will continue to update this website with any additional information.