The US Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund has partnered with Farm Aid to distribute emergency relief grants to Florida farmers affected by Hurricane Ian.
The storm, which hit the US in September last year, is Florida’s deadliest since 1935, prompting mass evacuations and leaving a trail of destruction.
The Federation, which offers its membership of Black farmers and other low-income rural people in the US South support around co-op development, land retention, and advocacy, is awarding 40 Florida family farmers US$500 disaster grant to help with their household and family needs – such as grocery, utilities and medical bills.
“Disaster relief and recovery is a major part of our co-operative economic development, land retention, and advocacy efforts,” said the Federation’s executive director Cornelius Blanding. “We are extremely grateful for our long-standing partnership with Farm Aid in this work.”
The Federation is also working with its members to help them access support from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) for qualifying farm loan program borrowers.
USDA is offering $123m in additional, automatic financial assistance for distressed borrowers – part of a $3.1bn package included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The new funding follows concerns that the terms of previous loan programmes were harming farmers.
“In too many cases, the rules surrounding our farm loan programmes may actually be detrimental to helping a borrower get back to a financially viable path,” ” said agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack. “As a result, some are pushed out of farming and others stuck under a debt burden that prevents them from growing or reacting to opportunities.”
Vilsack said the new assistance focuses on “generating long-term stability and success for distressed borrowers”.
The Federation thanked USDA for “listening to members and other underserved farmers’ experiences and concerns”.
It said it would continue its calls for programmes improve racial equity, and welcomed “these automatic payments that will provide more Black farmers with these critical economic resources to stay on their land and in production.
“While many of our members received financial resources during the first implementation phase last December, the Federation has continued to work closely with USDA leadership to identify opportunities for improvement.”
