Farm Disaster Assistance Coming To Tuolumne County

Sonora, CA — Thanks to the April freeze and California´s continued drought Tuolumne County farmers and ranchers have qualified for funds through a U.S.D.A. Secretarial Disaster Designation.

Farmers and ranchers have already suffered losses totaling $3.2 million this year.

Since the 2008 Farm Bill was enacted after the application periods had closed for those assistance programs, producers who did not have coverage could not comply with the requirement to quality for the new disaster program.

However the Farm Bill has authorized a waiver that allows producers to pay a buy-in fee to qualify. Tuolumne County Agricultural Commissioner Vicki Helmar says the buy-in fee for 2008 eligibility is $100 per crop but not more than $300 per producer per administrative county or $900 total per producer for all counties less any previously paid fees for CAT and/or NAP.

The application buy-in form must be completed with applicable fees paid by September 16. Producers can contact the Stanislaus-Tuolumne County FSA Office at (209) 491-9320, ext. 2 to file the application for waiver and pay the applicable fees for both the uninsured crops and NAP crops.

Written by Bill Johnson