Thanks to Congressman Boucher, I see that local farmers are now eligible for some financial assistance due to crop losses.

From the [1] KTN:

Farmers in Wise, Russell and Washington County who have suffered crop losses due to last year’s drought conditions may be eligible to receive financial help from the federal government according to United States Representative Rick Boucher.

. . .

While farmers in these counties were previously eligible for assistance by virtue of being located adjacent to other primary disaster areas, this designation will enable farmers in Dickenson County and the City of Norton to qualify for federal assistance.

. . .

Boucher noted that the lack of precipitation experienced in Southwest Virginia in 2005 resulted in substantial damage to crops and justified the need for federal assistance to the producers of these commodities.

Farmers in localities declared as disaster areas who lose 30 percent of their income are eligible to be considered for up to $500,000 in low-interest loans from the U.S. Farm Service Agency for losses sustained as a result of this year’s drought.

I hope this will be helpful to some of our local farmers. A guy was recently telling me about how he had lost part of his crop because of the drought and I intend to mention this to him in case he has not heard about it.