Farmers bailed out
By Steph Wiechmann
Rockbridge area farmers may get hundreds of thousands of dollars in help
from the federal government after a rough growing season in 2005. The
area’s struggle with high temperatures and drought was recently
recognized nationally and the U.S. Farm Service Agency is headed to the
rescue.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture last month named 38 counties in
Virginia “primary natural disaster areas.” During the 2005 growing
season, these counties suffered from drought and high temperatures,
hurting farmers’ crop yields. Rockbridge County, however, was not named
as a primary disaster area.
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Photo by Kristi Williams |
But there is help for Rockbridge farmers. Nelson County, immediately to
the east, was recognized as one of the 38 counties. The USDA recognizes
that contiguous counties to primary disaster areas, such as Rockbridge,
often suffer losses because of the same weather conditions. Therefore,
the USDA lets farmers in contiguous counties apply for the same federal
assistance. Fifty-one contiguous counties were recognized by the
department.
Primary natural disaster areas are currently declared in every state
except for Alaska, Hawaii, Maryland and New Hampshire.
Rockbridge and Nelson county farmers are now eligible to apply for
low-interest emergency loans, and programs like Federal Crop Insurance,
the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program, and the Emergency
Conservation Program.
The low-interest loans can help farmers cover everyday operating
expenses, said Chris Ashby, FSA county executive director. “If a farmer
needs to buy feed [for livestock] and doesn’t have ready money, this may
help,” he said.
The USDA allows farmers to use loan money to replace crop losses, pay
family living expenses, and refinance debts.
Farmers’ primary help from the federal government comes from the
emergency loans. The FSA said that eligible farmers can borrow an amount
equal to the value of their lost crops or actual production, not
exceeding $500,000. To be eligible, a farmer must meet FSA’s definition
of an “established farmer,” must be a U.S. citizen or permanent
resident, and must have lost 30 percent of his product. The farmer also
must have an acceptable credit history, have the collateral to secure
the loan and have the ability to pay back the loan.
Ashby said he couldn't estimate the number of loans that will be given
to Rockbridge farmers because paperwork is still being processed and the
farmers have until August to file a claim.
The amount of money the Emergency Loan Program gives out each year
varies, said the FSA. The program is annually appropriated funds through
federal discretionary funding.
The USDA named high temperature and drought as the reasons for low crop
yields in 2005.
The National Weather Service has been collecting weather data from
Lynchburg, the closest locality to Rockbridge County that it monitors,
since 1893.
During the average summer season, which runs June through September, the
Rockbridge area averages 19 days when the temperature is above 90
degrees. Last summer, the area saw 23 days of exceedingly hot
temperatures.
To make matters worse, Rockbridge County typically gets 11.85 inches of
rain during the summer season but last summer brought only 10.04 inches
of rain.
“No farmer looks forward to dry weather,” said Ashby. “We went through a
drought the last month and a half” of the summer, he said.
September was an especially hard month for area crops. The month marks
the end of the summer season, with temperatures lowering for the coming
fall. This September’s average temperature was 5 degrees above normal.
Even more important than temperature is the amount of rain the crops get
that month--the last before harvest. Last September, only 0.12 inches
of rain fell on the area, 3.5 inches less than average.
The Rockbridge area has 157,308 acres of farmland encompassed in 789
farms, according to the USDA. About 41 percent of the county is used for
agriculture. Ashby said that the area has a lot of hay crop and pasture
land. Other popular crops are corn and small grains, such as barley,
wheat, rye and oats.
Local farmers have eight months from the time the county was named a
disaster area to apply for federal assistance. The USDA designated
disaster areas on Dec. 27 and Rockbridge County farmers have until Aug.
28 to apply for assistance.
Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.
Lead supervisor: Prof. Claudette Artwick
Reporting supervisor: Prof. Doug Cumming
Editing supervisor: Prof. Pamela Luecke
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd