MARYLAND (WBFF) — Maryland farmers hit hard by a late-April freeze are now eligible for federal emergency assistance after the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared 12 Maryland counties primary natural disaster areas.
The Secretarial designation allows the USDA’s Farm Service Agency to extend emergency credit to impacted producers. The emergency loans are intended to help growers cover recovery needs such as replacing essential equipment, reorganizing farming operations or refinancing certain debts.
Since the days immediately following the late April frost, Maryland Farm Bureau has constantly stressed the need for assistance for our hardworking farmers who were affected by this extreme weather event,” Maryland Farm Bureau President Jamie Raley said, via a press release. “We are grateful to the USDA and our partners in government for giving our farmers this much needed relief and security for them to keep going.
The declaration follows an advocacy campaign by the Maryland Farm Bureau, which launched an internal statewide damage survey after the freeze. The survey found nearly 90 impacted growers reported an average estimated production loss of 67.5% across frost-damaged crops, with many operations in heavily hit counties reporting near-total losses of 90% or higher.
Using that data, the Maryland Farm Bureau sent a formal petition on May 14 to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins requesting an expedited declaration. The request was followed by similar requests from Gov. Wes Moore and Maryland’s congressional delegation.
The Maryland Farm Bureau also supported the state’s May 24 directives to assist growers, including waiving production minimum requirements for Class 4 Limited Wineries.
As the freeze’s impacts unfolded, the organization urged affected producers to report losses to local Farm Service Agency offices and worked to highlight the effects on local operations, including Heyser Farms in Silver Spring and The Vineyards at Dodon in Davidsonville.
Farm Service Agency emergency loans are now available to eligible farmers in the designated counties: Baltimore, Caroline, Carroll, Cecil, Dorchester, Frederick, Howard, Montgomery, Queen Anne’s, Somerset, Washington and Wicomico.
Contiguous counties included in the disaster declaration are Allegany, Anne Arundel, Harford, Kent, Prince George’s, Talbot and Worcester, along with Baltimore City.
Producers are encouraged to contact their local Farm Service Agency office to begin the application process.
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