SAVANNAH, Ga. () — The State of Georgia and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced they will provide more than $500 million to Georgia farmers who were affected by Hurricane Helene.

The newly announced block grant is specifically meant to cover areas traditional USDA programs don’t cover, such as timber poultry, pecans and specialty crops.

“There are certain commodities that are not covered by traditional loss programs by the USDA,” Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler J. Harper said. “We’re happy to announce that Georgia is going to get over $531 million to help cover those losses, in addition to the almost $1 billion that’s already being distributed to farm families across the state to help them recover from Hurricane Helene.”

Harper said Hurricane Helene caused $2.5 millions of damage to crops and forests across the state. He said the damage left from Helene is something famers may see for generations to come.

“It takes ten years, for pecan trees to become profitable and poultry investments are significant in the infrastructure you’ve got to build to be able to utilize that operation,” Harper said. “With timber, it takes upwards of 20 to 25 years to get to the to that solid timber.” 

Harper said agriculture is Georgia’s No. 1 industry and it is crucial for them to get the relief they need.

“In Georgia, agriculture is our number one industry, it is a $91.5 billion industry. Almost 350,000 Georgians are employed in the field of agriculture,” Harper said. “So, we’ve got to work every single day to help ensure that they’re successful because American agriculture success, Georgia’s agriculture success is really the success of our state.”

Officials said the application processes to receive aid will be opening soon.