Greetings from the USDA Farm Service Agency NH State Office!
Fair season is underway, local sweet corn is starting to hit the farm stands, summer is in full swing in NH. You might not have that normal summer vibe this year with the cloudy, rainy weather we have experienced. Every year seems to be a little different and this year certainly qualifies in that respect.
Natural disaster events are becoming an all-too-common occurrence in recent years in NH. Just in the last few months, we have been affected by both freeze and flooding events of historic proportions. USDA stands ready to assist producers as they deal with the losses sustained as a result of the extreme weather events. NH currently has Secretarial Disaster Designation requests pending in eight counties stemming from the May freeze event and July has brought excessive moisture and flooding that has caused additional crop losses. The Secretarial Designations will open up Emergency credit for eligible producers and loan set-asides for current borrowers.
We can’t over-emphasize how important reporting of crop losses is to the Federal response. Indemnity eligibility is tied to the timely reporting of losses and calculation of county – wide crop losses is critical to disaster designation requests. With the multitude of crop losses this year, Congress is very aware of the beating agriculture is taking. As our Washington DC delegations consider the possibility of supplemental disaster relief beyond our core programs, an accurate estimate of total damages will be critical to that process. I hope all our NH producers can make the best of what is a very challenging situation.
Jeffrey Holmes
State Executive Director
NH Farm Service Agency
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