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USDA to provide $20M in disaster relief for grain storage facilities

The USDA is making $20 million available to help farmers in three states rebuild grain storage facilities that were devastated by natural disasters.

Steve Dick, State Executive Director of South Dakota’s Farm Service Agency, says derechos swept through his state and Minnesota earlier this year, while 11 counties in Kentucky were devastated by tornadoes last December.

“It would help them rebuild their facilities on the farm, or actually look at adding some facilities to alleviate some of this pressure that’s going to be at the commercial facilities,” Dick said.

He tells Brownfield the assistance should eventually help restore available grain storage. “We obviously know that not all of this is going to be done this year before harvest, but at least they are prepared if the situation arises in the future,” Dick said.

USDA is making the assistance available through a cost-share program that’s funded by the Commodity Credit Corporation. The department says details of the program and the process to seek cost share will be available in a future Federal Register notice.