ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE TO PECAN GROWERS AFFECTED BY 2017 WEATHER EVENTS
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that additional assistance is available for pecan growers to replant and replace trees through the Tree Assistance Program (TAP) as they recover from impacts of 2017 weather events. The assistances is part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018.
“Pecan orchards were hard hit in by storms in 2017. I saw firsthand t
he damage inflicted on communities, resources and the land.” said USDA Farm Production and Conservation Under Secretary Bill Northey. “These funds will help the industry recover and replace lost and da
maged trees.”
Funding will be provided through the TAP, a program administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA). Up to $15 million is available to eligible pecan orchardists or pecan nursery tree growers for certain mortality losses incurred in 2017. To be eligible, the grower must have suffered a mortality loss on a stand in over 7.5 percent, but less than 15 percent, adjusted for normal mortality.
In addition to TAP, growers and orchardists may be eligible for other 2014 Farm Bill programs. For example, pecan orchardists and nursery tree growers who suffered greater than a 15 percent mortality loss remain eligible under the regular TAP provisions. Under Secretary Northey urged those who may be eligible to work with their local state or county FSA office.
To qualify for a TAP payment for pecan tree losses, orchardists and nursery tree growers must have:
- planted, or be considered to have planted (by purchase before the loss of existing stock planted for commercial purposes) pecan trees for commercial purposes, or have a production history, for commercial purposes, of planted or existing trees;
- suffered a qualifying pecan tree loss over 7.5 percent mortality (after adjustment for normal mortality), from Jan. 1, 2017, through Dec. 31, 2017;
- continuously owned the stand from the time of the disaster until the time the TAP application is submitted.