{"id":24348,"date":"2024-09-19T10:24:31","date_gmt":"2024-09-19T14:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&p=24348"},"modified":"2024-09-19T11:12:29","modified_gmt":"2024-09-19T15:12:29","slug":"sens-ossoff-rev-warnock-reps-carter-austin-scott-press-usda-to-help-georgia-farmers-recover-from-tropical-storm-debby","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sens-ossoff-rev-warnock-reps-carter-austin-scott-press-usda-to-help-georgia-farmers-recover-from-tropical-storm-debby\/","title":{"rendered":"Sens. Ossoff & Rev. Warnock, Reps. Carter & Austin Scott Press USDA to Help Georgia Farmers Recover from Tropical Storm Debby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C.<\/strong> \u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is pressing the Biden Administration to help Georgia farmers impacted by Tropical Storm Debby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Sens. Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock, alongside Congressmen Earl L. \u201cBuddy\u201d Carter (R-GA-01) and Austin Scott (R-GA-08), launched a bipartisan, bicameral inquiry with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to ensure that Georgia farmers and growers in counties affected by Tropical Storm Debby get the relief and assistance they deserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTropical Storm Debby hit South Georgia with devastating rain and wind that caused widespread harm to crops and property. Over four days, farms sustained flooding and wind damage that will undoubtedly result in serious financial losses for many Georgia growers,\u201d the group wrote to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.<\/strong> \u201cWe implore you to take every possible step to help these growers recover from this storm by ensuring they receive the maximum support possible under the insurance they have purchased from the Federal Crop Insurance Program.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a 2023 report<\/a> by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, a \u201ctropical storm county\u201d is triggered when a tropical storm corridor causes \u201cprecipitation in the county equals or exceeds 6 inches during a four-day interval.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of their inquiry, the Members highlighted 3 Georgia counties \u2014 Coffee, Atkinson, and Berrien \u2014 that are currently ineligible for relief but whose farmers reported significant damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile USDA indicated that Echols and Ware counties were triggered as secondary counties for Hurricane Debby<\/a>, USDA\u2019s Risk Management Agency (RMA) did not include Ware County, Echols County, or Lanier County as counties with a primary trigger,\u201d the group continued.<\/strong> \u201cThis has left the adjacent counties \u2014 Coffee, Atkinson, and Berrien \u2014 without payments following this devastating storm.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ossoff continues working to support Georgia farmers and growers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, Sen. Ossoff launched<\/a> a push to pass the Crop Insurance for Future Farmers Act of 2023<\/em>, legislation he co-sponsored to strengthen access to crop insurance and to lower premiums for beginning farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August, Sen. Ossoff and Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-02) introduced<\/a> the Protecting Our Produce Act<\/em> to boost resources and support for Georgia specialty crop growers facing unfairly priced imports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ossoff joined as the Senate co-lead<\/a> of the bipartisan Temperature Endorsement for Multi-Peril Policies (TEMP) Act<\/em>, a bill introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) that would direct the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) to study the development of insurance policies for losses from frost and cold-weather events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May, following Sen. Ossoff\u2019s bipartisan, bicameral push<\/a>, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and USDA established<\/a> a Seasonal and Perishable Agricultural Products Advisory Committee to help ensure Georgia farmers are at the table to address unfair trade practices by Mexican importers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here<\/a> to read the bipartisan, bicameral letter to USDA Secretary Vilsack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

###<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is pressing the Biden Administration to help Georgia farmers impacted by Tropical Storm Debby. Today, Sens. Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock, alongside Congressmen Earl L. \u201cBuddy\u201d Carter (R-GA-01) and Austin Scott (R-GA-08), launched a bipartisan, bicameral inquiry with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to ensure that Georgia farmers and […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24348","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/24348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/24348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24350,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/24348\/revisions\/24350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}