NEWSROOM
Aquaculture
Block Grants Available to Producers
June 30, 2006
Federal disaster
relief money is working its way to aquaculture producers in Louisiana
in the form of the Aquaculture Block Grant Program. Commissioner
of Agriculture and Forestry Bob Odom said $4.5 million in long-awaited
federal aid is now available to state aquaculture producers adversely
affected by last year’s brutal hurricanes. The Louisiana
Aquaculture Block Grant Program funds were made available to the
state from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The grants will be administered by the Louisiana Department of
Agriculture and Forestry and the USDA’s Farm Services Agency.
At a meeting
held at the LSU AgCenter’s Cooperative Extension Service
office in Abbeville on June 29, Roy Johnson, LDAF market development
director, explained the application process to more than 50 crawfish
producers in attendance. Johnson said that any Louisiana aquaculture
producer who was engaged in the commercial production, raising,
managing or harvesting of aquatic livestock under controlled circumstances
on Aug. 29, 2005, the day Katrina hit, could be eligible for the
grant money. That includes commercial catfish farmers as well
as crawfish, reptiles, baitfish and other finfish growers.
On the application,
producers must indicate damages and losses that were related to
either Hurricane Katrina or Rita. Records or other supporting
documentation needs to be submitted with the application along
with an FSA farm number and an IRS W-9 form. The application must
also be notarized. These requirements were made to insure that
these grants go to legitimate commercial producers who were impacted
by the storms, Johnson said.
The application
period for producers in the Gulf Opportunity (GO) Zone, where
losses were the greatest, is from June 30 through July 31. The
application process for all other Louisiana aquaculture producers
runs from July 31 through August 31. Parishes in the GO Zone are
Acadia, Allen, Ascension, Assumption, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron,
East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Iberia, Iberville,
Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Lafourche, Livingston,
Orleans, Plaquemines, Pointe Coupee, Sabine, St. Bernard, St.
Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Landry,
St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, Vermilion,
Vernon, Washington, West Baton Rouge and West Feliciana.
Several producer
organizations, including the Louisiana Crawfish Farmers Association,
the Louisiana Alligator Farmers and Ranchers Association, the
Louisiana Cattish Farmers Association and the Louisiana Farm Bureau,
have worked cooperatively to inform Congress and the USDA of the
importance of aquaculture to Louisiana and the economic losses
caused by the storms. This is the first time that crawfish have
been recognized in any kind of disaster relief by the federal
government, according to Stephen Minvielle, past president of
the crawfish association. The same can be said for the other commodities,
too.
Applications
as well as instructions for filing can be found on the Louisiana
Department of Agriculture and Forestry Web site at www.ldaf.state.la.us,
or by calling 225-922-1280.
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