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Georgia farmers await federal grants as growing season passes

Devastated cornfield in summer after hurricane near Pattensen in Lower Saxony Germany
Doğuhan - stock.adobe.com
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Machine working at peanut field under a blue sky.

Georgia farmers are still waiting for federal relief after the one year anniversary of Hurricane Helene passed in late September.

The US Department of Agriculture and state officials announced that Georgia farmers will receive over $500 million on Tuesday but have yet to finalize how the funds will be distributed.

Dr. Pam Knox is an agricultural climatologist at the University of Georgia Extension. She says many farmers were unable to claim hurricane insurance after Helene and are relying on government aid, but that the federal grants may come too late.

“It’s a season they’ve lost, because they didn’t get that money in time to buy seed for this growing season,” she said. “That really put them behind and it will take them a long time to recover from that.”

She says that some farmers in Southeast Georgia are still cleaning up debris from the storm.

Emma Auer is an award-winning reporter who joined WUGA as a full-time producer in 2024. She is also a graduate student in UGA's Romance Languages Department, studying French and Spanish. She covers the breadth of Northeast Georgia stories, from Athens City Hall to Winterville farmers' markets. Emma's work has also been heard on Georgia Public Broadcasting.
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