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Lawmakers leery of handing money out to farmers after Florence

State agriculture officials pressed lawmakers Monday for financial assistance to North Carolina farmers reeling after Hurricane Florence, but some members of an oversight committee expressed reservations about handing money directly over to farmers.

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By
Matthew Burns
, WRAL.com senior producer/politics editor
RALEIGH, N.C. — State agriculture officials pressed lawmakers Monday for financial assistance to North Carolina farmers reeling after Hurricane Florence, but some members of an oversight committee expressed reservations about handing money directly over to farmers.

Florence caused an estimated $1.1 billion in agricultural losses, which Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said was more than double the damage inflicted by Hurricane Matthew two years ago. The storm hit right at the beginning of the fall harvest, so crops still in the fields were a total loss, he said.

"This is an unprecedented crisis for North Carolina agriculture," Troxler told members of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources. "Without substantial state assistance, our agriculture community is simply not going to survive."

Officials detailed for lawmakers the losses for various row crops, livestock and poultry operations and timber and nursery lands before laying out a $310 million list of needs to help farmers, everything from $3 million to provide hay to animals over the winter to $1 million to repair farm roads to $10 million to clear streams and drainage ditches of debris.

The bulk of the request was $250 million for the Farmer Recovery and Reinvestment Program, which officials said would help cover uninsured and underinsured losses and serve as an "incentive program" to encourage farmers to continue working the land.

"They don't need another loan. They can hardly pay back what they owe now," said David Smith, chief deputy commissioner of the Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.

"We as a state are willing to invest millions and millions and tens of millions of dollars in incentives to recruit companies like Apple and Amazon," said Larry Wooten, president of the North Carolina Farm Bureau. "But we must be willing to assist the longstanding economic engine of rural North Carolina, the foundation of North Carolina's largest economic sector."

Morris Murphy, a Duplin County farmer, warned lawmakers against throwing money at the problem, however.

"You could make good headlines, but if [the money is] not put in the right places, it won't solve the problems we have as farmers," Murphy said.

Citing the $4 million the state recently put toward mosquito eradication efforts, he noted the money was split based on population numbers, rather than the density of mosquitos.

Lawmakers questioned how the money in the recovery program would be divvied up and how officials would determine which claims were appropriate.

Troxler said the funds would provide a bridge to farmers to get them to the next growing season, and aerial photos and other technology would be used to estimate the losses of individual farmers making claims under the program.

"You heard them talking about putting the money in the right place. Right now, the place to put this money is in a farmer's hand," Troxler said. "Let him manage his operation with a boost from state government."

"How will you be able to follow up to make sure this money was actually spent on farming?" asked Sen. Trudy Wade, R-Guilford. "You'll be able to check and make sure fields are planted again or buildings are put back together?"

"Are we going to make sure that every farmer that gets a payment stays in the business? We can't," Troxler replied. "I can't swear that what we do is going to keep every farmer in business, but if you look at it in general, I think it will be enough to help them get financing. That's what we're looking for."

Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, said the recovery program creates a slippery slope of the state setting aside a pile of money to dole out after natural disasters without any parameters.

"What about all those small-business people of all natures that are out there that are in the same situation?" McGrady asked. "We'll be setting sort of a precedent here with this sort of program."

"If agriculture is not strong, the small business is gone," Troxler said, saying eastern North Carolina could resemble the Midwest during the Dust Bowl days of the Great Depression.

The General Assembly is scheduled to reconvene next Tuesday to take up a major hurricane recovery package.

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