North Carolina farmers are set to receive $25 million in aid from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as the agency sends out a new round of relief to states impacted by disasters.
The new chunk of federal aid comes alongside $340.6 million announced by USDA on Tuesday. Secretary Brooke Rollins said the department was “doing everything we can to support state and local efforts to rebuild these communities to be even stronger than before.”
Tennessee is also set to receive $18 million in disaster aid, the USDA said. Western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee were both battered by Hurricane Helene last fall.
The USDA aid will go toward economic development for “enterprises and farm producers,” rebuilding infrastructure, drinking and wastewater and technical assistance for towns needing aid.
And the administration said Tuesday it was also eliminating several regulations and guidelines around the USDA’s disaster fund. That includes waiving income requirements and population limits, as well as responding to a backlog of requests from communities in recent years.
State officials have made agricultural aid one of the main pillars of their response to Hurricane Helene. In lawmakers’ most recent aid package, $300 million was allocated for crop loss reimbursement.
Leaders in the sector warned shortly after the storm that it had dealt a major blow to short- and long-term outlooks.
“It’s going to take huge money to help these people recover,” Jimmy Gentry, president of the agricultural advocacy group NC Grange, told lawmakers in December. “I hope you’ll keep that in mind. Assistance is going to be needed for a long time to come.”
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