Regional farmers get relief for crops: Those affected are eligible for federal assistance through the Farm Service Agency.

Oct 21, 2008      The Roanoke Times

Courtney Cutright

Oct. 21, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Help may be on the way for Bedford County farmers who have felt the sting of drought and excessive heat this year.

Gov. Tim Kaine announced Monday the U.S. secretary of agriculture has declared Bedford County and 10 other Virginia counties primary natural disaster areas.

Farmers in the affected counties and contiguous jurisdictions can apply for low-interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency of the USDA and -- if they carry crop insurance policies -- are eligible for any future assistance authorized by Congress.

Changes that took effect under the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 preclude farmers who do not carry some form of crop insurance from being eligible for the government's supplemental revenue assistance program unless they buy into the program.

Jeff Powers, a Bedford County beef cattle farmer, owner of a farm equipment store and chairman of the county's Agricultural Economic Development Advisory Board, said he is unsure how the requirement will affect farmers in the county.

"It is new. I don't think any of us really know at this point. It is like any insurance -- you hope you never need it," Powers said.

The deadline to buy into the 2008 federal crop insurance policy was September 2007. At that time farmers had no way of knowing how severe this year's weather would be.

Powers has never purchased a policy but said given several years of drought and the state of the national economy, he will consider it for 2010.

"Before, we just expected the federal government or state government to bail us out," he said. "Now we have to cover ourselves and still look for help."

Officials in Bedford County sought the disaster designation from the federal government, according to Scott Baker, Bedford County's agricultural extension agent.

"It is a necessary step to position our farmers to receive additional assistance in the future," he said. "It is not necessarily something we are happy about. We wish we had a better season."

The severity of the situation is not new to the farmers of Bedford County. Baker has worked for the county for more than a decade, and for most of those years the county has been declared a natural disaster area because of drought.

Nathan Prill, executive director for the Bedford County office of the Farm Service Agency, said this is the fourth consecutive year the county has been declared a natural disaster area. The county's farmers received about $487,000 in federal aid from 2005 to 2007 for livestock compensation, crop disaster and emergency conservation, which are the agency's three main drought relief programs.

Primary drought disaster designations are pending for Franklin, Henry and Rockbridge counties. All three counties are considered contiguous disaster areas because they abut Bedford County. Other contiguous localities affected include Botetourt County, Roanoke County and Bedford.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0175-28899407

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