Storms, debt and rising costs: can $500M in aid keep Georgia farms alive?

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a new lifeline for Georgia farmers Wednesday, saying more than $500 million in Hurricane Helene relief will begin flowing within days.

Rollins delivered the news under the Gold Dome and paired it with a tough assessment of the farm economy.

“We know that this farm economy, even though it’s getting better, is still the worst we have seen in decades, perhaps in our lifetime,” Rollins said.

The Georgia Department of Agriculture says Hurricane Helene wiped out about a third of Georgia’s pecan and cotton crops and damaged 1.5 million acres of timber. The new federal block grant, totaling more than $500 million, is intended to help producers rebuild from those losses.

State Sen. Russ Goodman, a Republican and blueberry farmer from south Georgia, said it will take years for some communities to recover.

“You have to get up every day and pull your boots on and go to work,” Goodman said. “It’s going to take a long time for south Georgia and the area of the state that the hurricane went through before it looks like it did previously.”

Financial stress on Georgia farms has been mounting beyond the effects of storm damage.

New data from the American Farm Bureau Federation show that 27 Georgia farms declared Chapter 12 farm bankruptcy last year, more than double the year before. At the same time, farmers are facing higher costs for fertilizer, equipment and fuel.

Georgia’s Democratic U.S. Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff said they have pressed the U.S. Department of Agriculture for months to release the Helene block grant funding, calling the announcement welcome news but arguing farmers have waited too long for the aid to arrive.

“Less than 90 days after Hurricane Helene devastated Georgia agriculture, Senator Warnock and I passed disaster funding for Georgia farmers,” Ossoff said. “Now, over a year late, USDA is finally getting those funds to Georgia farmers. I am glad Georgia farmers are getting the help they’ve long deserved.”

Republican leaders at the Capitol stood alongside Rollins, praising the administration’s broader farm agenda and pointing to efforts they say will lower H-2A wage rates and boost support prices as another lifeline to keep operations afloat.

“Tough times never last, tough people do,” Goodman said.

The application process for the Hurricane Helene disaster funding is expected to open next week through the Georgia Department of Agriculture.