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ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Hurricane Helene severely damaged drinking water utilities in the Southeast. Western North Carolina was especially hard hit. Flooding tore through the city of Asheville’s water system, destroying so much infrastructure that officials said repairs could take weeks. The Environmental Protection Agency said that, as of Thursday, about 136,000 people in the Southeast were served by a nonoperational water provider and more than 1.8 million were living under a boil water advisory. Officials in North Carolina are facing a difficult rebuilding task made harder by the steep, narrow valleys of the Blue Ridge Mountains that during a more typical October would attract throngs of fall tourists.

What is it like having a hurricane hit your farm? Imagine floods so big it displaces your cattle. Imagine your crop leveled just as you were about to harvest. That’s the story from the North Carolina mountains.  Shawn Harding is the president of the North Carolina Farm Bureau. Hurricane Helene did not hit Shawn’s strawberry farm, […]

DETROIT (AP) — The union representing 45,000 striking U.S. dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports has reached a deal to suspend a three-day strike until Jan. 15 to provide time to negotiate a new contract. The International Longshoremen’s Association is to resume working immediately. The union also reached a tentative deal with the ports on wages, according to a joint statement issued Thursday night. The union went on strike early Tuesday after its contract expired in a dispute over pay and the automation of tasks at the ports from Maine to Texas. A person briefed on the deal said the ports raised their wage offer to 62% over six years. The person didn’t want to be identified because the deal is tentative.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. ports from Maine to Texas are closed due to a strike by the union representing about 45,000 dockworkers. The International Longshoremen’s Association is demanding higher wages and a total ban on the automation of cranes, gates and trucks that are used in the loading or unloading of freight at 36 U.S. ports. Those ports handle roughly half of the nations’ cargo from ships. A lengthy shutdown could raise prices on goods around the country and potentially cause shortages and price increases at retailers as the holiday shopping season — along with a tight presidential election — approach.

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, USDA staff is available to assist when you are ready. USDA is working diligently to implement program flexibilities and waivers, to help streamline your recovery process. We are regularly reviewing our programs, so please check in periodically with your local USDA office for updates.  Documenting Loss We encourage you […]

Floodwaters from Hurricane Helene swamped the Southern United States, with virtually every commodity impacted. Farm Policy News says cotton, pecans, poultry, and timber were hit the hardest by the hurricane. It brought chicken processing plants to a halt, and caused severe damage to some flocks, while also downing pecan trees and flattening crops. A USDA […]

Somerset, Pa., Oct. 3, 2024 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small announced today that USDA is partnering with farmers and small businesses to expand access to clean energy and lower energy bills through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). “As drivers of our economy, farmers and rural business owners deserve affordable […]

Illinois farmer Kenneth Hartman, Jr., is the new president of the National Corn Growers Association. He’s selected “Building Bridges” as the theme for his year in the president’s chair. “Where that came from is we have a bridge that’s on the farm that was here before my grandfather bought this farm. My great, great grandfather, […]

Crops across the Southeast are feeling the impact of last week’s Hurricane Helene. USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey says, considering the swath of winds and heavy rains from a stretch from Florida’s big bed to as far north as areas of Virginia and Tennessee… “Believe it was 140 miles per hour moving much faster that pushed […]

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Hurricane Helene has left millions without electricity, water and phone service across the Southeast in the six days since making landfall. Now many people are relying on old-fashioned ways of communicating and coping. In one North Carolina town, local leaders are updating residents at meetings in the town square. Message boards list the names of the missing. Mules delivered medical supplies to mountaintop homes. The death toll has topped 180, and many people remain unaccounted for. President Joe Biden surveyed the devastation in the Carolinas from the air on Wednesday and plans to tour disaster areas in Georgia and Florida on Thursday.