Help is on the way for Florida farmers affected by hurricanes last year.
$2.36 billion in disaster assistance was announced today by U. S. Department of Agriculture.
It says the funds are designed to offset losses from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria as well as last year's wildfires.
Sign-up for the new program will begin no later than July 16. Information on how to file claims for disaster payments will be made available at a later date.
-Eligibility will be limited to producers in counties that experienced hurricanes or wildfires designated as presidentially-declared disasters in 2017;
-Compensation determined by a producer’s individual losses rather than an average of losses for a particular area (where data is available);
-Producers who purchased higher levels of risk protection, such as crop insurance and noninsured crop disaster assistance program, will receive higher payments;
-Advance payments up to 50 percent; and
-A requirement that payment recipients obtain future risk protection.Source: USDA
