‘From the tractor’ is published in the monthly Agricultural Review. This column appears in the May 2026 edition of the paper. The most up-to-date information about the Federal Block Grant Assistance Program can be found here: USDA Block Grant Disaster Relief | NC Agriculture.
I wanted to provide another update on the USDA disaster assistance programs we are working on right now and encourage people reading this to share this information with farmers and landowners/timber owners they know that may be eligible to apply for the federal ag disaster block grant for Hurricane Helene losses.
Farmers in 39 disaster declared counties for Hurricane Helene can apply in four different categories for disaster assistance. Last month I mentioned that we were finalizing the details of part of the $221 million USDA program and that the application period for the first three categories of assistance would be open by the time readers received their papers.
Specifically, the categories included:
- farm infrastructure
- future economic loss for perennial crops, poultry and aquaculture operations
- and market loss assistance for commodities and value-added products
Now, the final application category for timber losses is open.
To help avoid confusion, I want to be clear that there are two application deadlines: May 15 remains the application deadline for the first three categories that opened on March 30, and June 12 is the deadline to apply for the Timber Loss Relief Program.
The Timber Loss Relief Program (TLRP) will be administered by the N.C. Forest Service and designed to partially compensate private landowners with at least 10 contiguous acres of moderate to catastrophic timber loss.
We know there were more than 822,000 acres of timber damage in Hurricane Helene and while the disaster assistance won’t make landowners whole, we hope it will assist with recovery.
To begin the application process, landowners should contact their local N.C. Forest Service county ranger’s office or a district office. Contact information for those offices can be found at www.ncagr.gov/divisions/ nc-forest-service/contacts.
We also have information and applications on the entire USDA block grant program in North Carolina on our disaster assistance website at www.ncagr.gov/agdisaster.
In a related, but unrelated update, we are continuing to work on the state disaster assistance program while applications come in for the federal block grant program. Funds are being sent out as we determine more infrastructure payments.
As of press time, we have had 7,855 payments totaling over $286.3 million cleared and the work continues. Updates are provided on the Ag Disaster Dashboard on the www.ncgar. gov/agdisaster website.
It has been a rough start to the 2026 growing season as drought conditions across the state have already lead to a disaster declaration for 94 North Carolina counties – 43 primary counties and 51 contiguous counties. This declaration opens up emergency loan options for farmers in those counties through the Farm Service Agency.
We desperately need rain across our state, so any and all prayers for rain to offset the drought are welcome.