Drought Recovery Assistance Programs

Agriculture Drought Recovery Program

The N.C. Agriculture Drought Recovery Program has been created to help North Carolina farmers reeling from the state’s drought. It will cover 75 percent of the cost of restoring drought-damaged pastureland and providing additional water supply for livestock and crops. The program is being administered statewide through local Soil and Water Conservation District offices. | Details

No-Till Drill Program in 25 Soil and Water Districts

In addition, the N.C. Foundation for Soil and Water Conservation has used an allocation from the Council of State to purchase 25 no-till grass drills for pasture renovation in 25 soil and water districts across the state. The districts will rent the drills to farmers to re-seed pastures damaged by the drought. The drills are available in the following districts: Alleghany, Anson/Brown Creek, Ashe/New River, Buncombe, Caldwell, Chatham, Davidson, Davie, Granville, Guilford, Halifax/Fishing Creek, Lincoln, Madison, Orange, Person, Rockingham, Rowan, Rutherford, Stanly, Stokes, Surry, Union, Watauga, Wilkes/Roaring River and Yadkin. Farmers in these areas should contact their distict office for details.

How to Reduce the Potential Spread of Plant Pests in Hay and Other Fodder

The NCDA&CS Plant Industry Division regulates, through quarantines, the movement of agricultural or related items capable of spreading harmful insects, diseases, weeds and other plant pests. Growers may be required to secure a permit or certificate for the movement of hay, straw, fodder or plant litter of any kind moving interstate or intrastate. Articles being moved in violation of a plant pest quarantine may be subject to destruction or returned to shipper. For a full list of regulated/quarantined articles or to obtain a certificate or permit, please contact the Plant Industry Division at 1-800-206-9333. You also can download this document, "Moving Hay or Fodder for Livestock Feeding Purposes? Check with the NCDA&CS-Plant Industry to Reduce Potential Spread of Plant Pests" (PDF file).

Farmers Encouraged to Have Forage Tested

Forage testing provides useful information about the nutritional value of feed or forage. This information can be used to adjust the amount of protein and energy supplements used with the feed or forage to meet the needs of animals. It is also important to test forage and grains for nitrate and aflatoxin levels to avoid production losses. Contact the NCDA&CS Food and Drug Protection Division, (919) 733-7366.

Hay Sellers, Beware of Potential Scams

Hay Alert advertisers should be aware of potential scams that have come to the department's attention.

In the most recent examples, a hay buyer contacts the seller by e-mail and offers to send extra funds, either to guarantee a future order or to be sent to a third party to cover transportation costs. The "buyer" may refer to this as an "overdraft payment." The "buyer" then asks the seller to confirm personal information, such as full name, mailing address, and home, office and cell phone numbers.

In some instances, the "buyer" claims to have arranged for shipping. The "buyer" instructs the seller to deduct payment for the hay from the amount sent, and to send the remaining balance to the shipping firm. In other cases, the person asks the seller to arrange shipment and to return any unused money. It is suspected that the payment is fake, and the "buyer's" request to send funds to a third party or return unused money is simply a ploy to steal from the seller.

A similar scam surfaced a few years ago. The way it works is that a potential hay buyer sends the seller a fake cashier's check, made out for several thousand dollars more than the agreed upon selling price. Then the "buyer" claims to have made a mistake and asks the seller to wire the difference back.

The victim deposits the check, the bank credits their account, and the seller assumes the check has cleared. So the seller wires the requested funds, the check bounces, and the bank reduces the seller's account by the wired amount, sometimes cleaning the account out and leaving a negative balance.

Some ways to spot these scams: They usually have multiple misspellings, poor grammar and typically look like form letters. They will typically send a "check" to you and pressure you to deposit it quickly and send a refund. The scams most often originate overseas, but may have an accomplice here in the United States. The people posing as buyers might be male or female.

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