Bredesen seeks agricultural disaster declaration for Hardin County

June 7– Gov. Phil Bredesen on Friday requested a secretarial designation of natural disaster for agriculture for eight additional counties in middle and west Tennessee as a result of the historic rainfall and devastating floods that began April 30.

The eight counties include: Hardin, Cheatham, Dyer, Haywood, Madison, Montgomery, Tipton and Williamson.

"Some federal farm aid is already available through the Farm Service Agency, but a Secretarial disaster designation will help make more assistance available to farmers who suffered significant losses as a result of the storms and flooding," said Bredesen. "We want to do everything we can to help our farmers and rural communities recover from this devastating event."

Bredesen made the request in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. A Secretarial disaster designation would make farmers in these and adjoining counties eligible to apply for supplemental farm payments through their local USDA Farm Service Agency.

For those counties already covered under a presidential declaration, farmers are also eligible to apply for low-interest emergency loans.

Assistance for livestock losses and emergency conservation assistance to help rehabilitate damaged farmland is also available to eligible farmers.

Last month, Bredesen made a similar request for 13 counties that included Benton, Chester, Dickson, Fayette, Hardeman, Hickman, Humphreys, Lauderdale, Lewis, Maury, McNairy, Perry and Stewart.

According to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, Tennessee farmers reported moderate to severe damages to 39 percent of the state’s corn crop and 21 percent of winter wheat following the flooding.

Damages to fruit and vegetable crops and nursery stock were also reported as well as significant damage to farm infrastructure including access roads, levees, fences, conservation practices, buildings and equipment.

"Farmers are still dealing with a considerable amount of infrastructure damage and we’re seeing more acreage being shifted to soybeans as a result of lost corn acreage," said state Agriculture Commissioner Ken Givens.

The latest USDA-NASS crop survey shows that farmers made significant progress the week ending May 30 with cutting hay and planting crops, although some areas previously flooded were still too wet to plant.

Crops not damaged by flooding were rated in mostly good to excellent condition.