Columbus area included in natural disaster declaration due to historic drought
Over 9.75 million acres of Georgia farms are in an exceptional drought condition, putting Georgians in uncharted territory not seen in half a century or more.
Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper announced Wednesday a way for farmers to get reprieve from the dry conditions that are making soil unsuitable for growing by offering a Farm Service Agency emergency loan assistance.
The highest loan is up to $500,000, if eligibility is met, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture FSA website.
The Georgia Department of Agriculture, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, announced that 126 Georgia counties have been designated as primary natural disaster areas due to ongoing drought conditions.
“Extreme drought conditions are impacting thousands of farm families across our state — causing even more uncertainty and driving up costs on the farm at a critical time,” Harper said in a news release. “This Secretarial disaster declaration will allow Georgia producers to tap into additional, federal support as the drought conditions continue...”
Farmers in some parts of the state are in need of 10 inches of rain io get back to normal levels. They rely solely on rain and not irrigation.
“Dryland farmers have no recourse right now,” said Pam Knox, a University of Georgia agricultural climatologist and crop & soil scientist. “This is the driest last eight months that it’s ever been. Not true everywhere in the state — the northwest part of the state has been a little bit wetter — but the southern parts of the state in particular, which is where a lot of the commodity crops grow, it’s just been incredibly dry.”
The Georgia Department of Agriculture listed 126 counties, including Muscogee, Harris and Chattahoochee in the Columbus area, and mostly southern counties, in its list of eligible farming communities to apply for the emergency loan. The state department said producers can contact their county FSA office for more information to apply for a loan.
This comes on the heels of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declaring a state of emergency for 91 counties while several uncontained wildfires burn over 20,000 acres near the Georgia-Florida border, where the exceptional drought is scorching the Peach State.
“I’ve seen some comments from people saying the ground is so hard that it’s damaging their planting equipment; it’s like trying to drill holes into brick,” Knox said.
