Federal shutdown tying up state relief money for farmers hurt by Florence

State lawmakers approved $240 million in relief aid for farmers and fisherman who lost their harvests to Florence in September and, to a lesser extent, Hurricane Michael in October. Combined, the storms caused an estimated $1 billion in agricultural losses in North Carolina.

The aid money was supposed to go out pretty quickly to help them pay their debts and plan for this year's crops, but it's currently in limbo because of the shutdown.

Farmers who applied for help had to include documentation of what they planted. But that form is available only at county Farm Service Agency offices, and hundreds of farmers weren't able to get a form before the shutdown.

So, their applications won't be complete till the government reopens.

"We don't know when that's going to be, obviously, so we're in limbo right now," said David Smith, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services..

Department administrators need to add up the total claims from farmers to determine what percentage of the pool each farmer will get, Smith said, but they can't do that until all of the claims are complete.

In the meantime, nearly 8,000 farmers are waiting for help.

"Many of them are trying to determine, how much am I going to plant this year, and they're making decisions on chemicals, seed, fertilizer and so forth, and I'm sure many of them have got debts to pay off from not having a crop from the fall of 2018," Smith said.

Farmers can't turn to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for assistance during the shutdown, either, which only exacerbates the problem, he said.

"There are a lot of needy people, and we're getting those calls like, 'When will the checks arrive?'" he said. "I don't have an answer for them at this time."

If the shutdown continues much longer, state officials will probably use estimates for the incomplete applications so they can start getting checks out the door, Smith said. But they want to make sure they give farmers as much as they can.