Georgia Hurricane Helene Block Grant Now Open
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Individuals who suffered losses in timber and agriculture because of Hurricane Helene may receive more relief funding soon, as applications for block grants to account for these losses are now being accepted by the Georgia Department of Agriculture. On Monday, March 16, Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper announced that Georgia farmers, ranchers, foresters, and timber owners could begin to apply for assistance through the Georgia Hurricane Helen Block Grant Program, which will distribute a total of $531,236,000 to Georgians to account for commodities and losses that are not covered under pre-existing United States Department of Agriculture programs.
These grants are available for individuals throughout the area, as Montgomery, Toombs, Treutlen, and Wheeler Counties are all in the cover- continued from page
age area. Losses covered by the grant are for agriculture commodities, such as timber, infrastructure, poultry, beef cattle, dairy cattle, milk loss, dairy feed loss, pecans, blueberries, citrus, nursery, plasticulture, and bare ground practices; these losses must have come as a result of Hurricane Helene.
“I’m incredibly proud to announce that Georgia farmers impacted by Hurricane Helene can apply for relief beginning on March 16, 2026,” emphasized Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler J Harper. “While this relief will not make impacted producers 100% whole, it will go a long way to help farm families get back on their feet after the devastation of Hurricane Helene. We invested thousands of hours into this process to ensure we brought the maximum amount of funding to Georgia while covering as many commodities and loss types as possible, and I want to thank the Trump Administration and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins for understanding the critical need for financial relief following the devastation of Hurricane Helene.”
To apply, individuals will provide information about their property and agriculture operation, and will submit documentation to prove that they dealt with losses from the hurricane. Examples of this documentation that will be submitted include deeds; 2024 tax assessments; lease contracts; documentation verifying timber loss; acreage reports; crop insurance records; veterinarian records; poultry lost production cycles; tree, bush, nursery damage records; damages to buildings; receipts for medications; records of milk production; animal numbers before and after Hurricane Helene; expense invoices; sales receipts; trucking receipts; repair bills; demolition bills; reconstruction invoices; photographs; aerial photography; replacement invoices; and any other documentation necessary to substantiate losses.
Timber payments will be based on pre-hurricane values of damaged timber stands; infrastructure losses cover on-farm physical structures needed for agricultural production; poultry losses are based on lost production cycles; beef and dairy cattle losses cover drops in conception rates; milk losses are for lower milk production; pecan, blueberry and citrus losses are for future production losses due to destroyed bushes and trees; nursery losses cover future production losses due to destruction of nursery crops; and compensation is provided to reestablish plasticulture and bare-ground practices damaged by the Hurricane.
Grants will be awarded based on this documentation and the amount of loss endured by each applicant. There is no cap on the amount of money that each applicant could receive.
After receiving the grant, producers will be required to purchase two years of Federal Crop Insurance or Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) coverage – at a minimum 60 percent coverage level – for each commodity they received assistance on and are eligible for. Producers can also purchase a Whole Farm Revenue Protection Plan through USDA Risk Management Agency to comply with the crop insurance requirement.
Some losses, such as timber, are not covered by crop insurance; thus, timber producers will not need to purchase insurance.
Individuals receiving the grant will also keep all production and financial records for three years after they receive the grant, and must provide any necessary documentation to the USDA or Georgia Department of Agriculture in the event of any compliance or audit process.
Failure to meet all terms and conditions will result in the producer having to refund, in full, all funds they received. If a producer is also found to have submitted an application with incorrect, untruthful, or incomplete information, that producer will be required to refund all payments and may be subject to civil and/or criminal penalty.
Pecan, citrus, and blueberry producers must maintain their farming operation, or continue to work or otherwise engage in or participate in an agricultural operation through December 31, 2027.
Applicants who receive infrastructure payments are required to rebuild or replace the infrastructures and to initiate the repair or rebuilding of the affected infrastructures by December 31, 2027.
All applications must be submitted by midnight on April 27. If approved, applicants will receive payments after this date.
For more information, or to apply, visit www. farmrecovery.com or email hbg@agr.georgia.gov.
