Sen. Jon Ossoff is pressing Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper to negotiate with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and deliver aid for farmers hurt by Hurricane Helene approved by Congress six months ago.
“The delay is now ludicrous,” Ossoff said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We got this done in Congress in under 90 days.”
It’s the latest salvo over $4 billion in block grants Georgia and 13 other states are still negotiating with USDA to receive. Timberland owners and many other farmers are counting on that money following the estimated $5.5 billion in damage Helene caused to Georgia agriculture last September.
The USDA opened applications last week for the largest bucket of aid — about $16 billion from the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program. It will deliver aid to farmers across the country with insurable crops hit by Hurricane Helene and other natural disasters in 2023 and 2024.
Harper lauded USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins’ announcement of the application period.
“I’m incredibly grateful to Secretary Rollins and her team at USDA for acting swiftly to make much-needed Hurricane Helene relief funding for Georgia farmers and producers,” Harper said in a statement.
But the program leaves out uninsurable, slow-growing commodities of Georgia agriculture that Helene hit particularly hard, such as timber and pecan trees.
Ossoff pointed that out in a letter Wednesday to Harper and Rollins, saying many Georgia farmers and producers are left in limbo.
It’s not the first time Ossoff has pressed Harper on Helene aid negotiations. Ossoff sent a letter in May urging the commissioner to reach an agreement with USDA.
Wade McDonald, the regional manager of F&W Forestry Services, an international forest resource management and consulting firm, said it could be a decade before many timberland owners recover from the storm.
Many farmers and other landowners rely on timber as a long-term investment, but after Helene leveled forests, some who were betting on those trees for their retirement say they can’t wait for new trees to mature.
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
The Georgia Forestry Commission and the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources estimated the storm caused about $1.3 billion in damage to the state’s timber industry.
“Timber is by far the largest slice of the loss,” Harper said.
But the Georgia agriculture commissioner criticized Ossoff, saying he’s turned this into a “political game.”
“I’m happy to have a conversation with Sen. Ossoff, but on this issue, it just seems like he goes through the press to get an update from us,” Harper said.
Harper said negotiations between USDA and Georgia started around late May and are ongoing.
“I can promise you it’s for no lack of effort,” he said.
Harper said some of the aid from the block grants is expected to cover losses for timberland owners, as well as pecan and poultry producers.
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