Disaster assistance offered to farmers and livestock producers impacted by wildfires

BOZEMAN — Montana agricultural operations have been significantly impacted by the wildfires, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has technical and financial assistance available to help farmers and livestock producers recover.

As agricultural producers move into recovery mode and assess damages, they should contact their local USDA Service Center to report losses and learn more about program options available to assist in their recovery from crop, land, infrastructure and livestock losses and damages.

“FSA offers a variety of disaster assistance programs to support farmers and ranchers through times of adversity,” said Mike Foster, state executive director for FSA in Montana. “Many disaster programs have a 30-day window to report losses, so once producers are able to evaluate their losses, it is important to contact the local FSA office to report all damages and losses and learn more about how we can assist.”

USDA encourages farmers and livestock producers to contact the FSA county office at the local USDA Service Center to learn which documents should be provided to help the local office expedite assistance, such as farm records, receipts and pictures of damages or losses.

Depending on the operation, FSA offers a number of disaster assistance programs to help offset eligible losses, including the Livestock Indemnity Program, Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program, Emergency Conservation Program, Emergency Forest Restoration Program, Livestock Forage Disaster Program, Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program and Tree Assistance Program.

Additionally, producers located in counties with a primary or contiguous disaster designation may be eligible for low-interest emergency loans to help them recover from production and physical losses.

Producers with federal crop insurance coverage should contact their crop insurance agent for assistance. An online locator is available at https://www.rma.usda.gov/en/Information-Tools/Agent-Locator-Page . Producers should report crop damage to their agent within 72 hours of damage discovery and follow up in writing within 15 days.

Producers and landowners can use the online Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, answering five questions to identify USDA programs that will help meet disaster recovery needs.

For more information on all USDA disaster assistance programs, people can visit http://farmers.gov/recover , or contact their local USDA Service Center, which can be found at http://farmers.gov/service-center-locator . For assistance with a crop insurance claim, people should contact their crop insurance agent.