“Three weeks after flooding devastated many Hoosier farms, time is running out on a number of the benefits available to help,” reports Indiana Agriculture Director Andy Miller.

“Farmers need to respond quickly to apply for disaster assistance from many federal agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Conservation Program and federal Disaster Unemployment Assistance.

“I urge every farmer who has been affected by the flood to spend time reviewing the Indiana Disaster Assistance for Agriculture checklist found on the disaster Web site (www.emergency.in.gov/agriculture) and all the other information we have collected and make sure they have taken advantage of every program available to them. This was an unprecedented flooding event in many areas, and we need to use all the resources available to us to recover the land and our agricultural infrastructure for future seasons.

“USDA and other state and federal agencies have reacted in unprecedented ways to expedite assistance for Indiana farmers. I applaud their quick action and farmers need to take advantage of these opportunities now or they will miss the assistance completely,” Miller urges.