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Three events planned to help with agriculture storm recovery

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June 12th, 2024 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – State, federal and local agencies are coming together with farm industry groups for three one-day events to help those in agriculture who have been hit by the recent severe weather. FEMA’s Jessica Pugh said the Agriculture Recovery Center events are for those impacted by the storms. “They will kind of be walked through events designed as resource fairs to provide information on addressing agricultural needs that are not covered by standard programs within FEMA or the state of Iowa,” she says. The first one is Thursday from noon until 8 pm at the Treynor Community Center in Pottawattamie County. Pugh says there are a lot of different types of agriculture that have been hit by the severe weather.

“As an example, just recently we had a conversation about honey bee damage. There was a honeybee agribusiness that was impacted by the tornadoes and their business was obviously sustained physical damage, and it would not be covered by individual assistance or public assistance under FEMA,” Pugh says. She says you need to bring identification and verification of where you live.

“So your driver’s license or an I-D would be great. If you have damage, photos of the damage is always helpful. If you have your insurance documents that say what’s covered and what’s not covered, that’s also helpful so that we can look at what’s covered and what’s not,” she says. “And we’ll also have our individual assistance and Disaster Survivor Assistance programs on the ground for anyone who hasn’t been able to get with those programs yet.” Pugh says this is a great opportunity to access all the information in one stop.

“I would encourage you to come out even if you aren’t 100 percent sure that your items may be covered,” Pugh says. “We’d love to have a conversation with you and just see if things can be worked out.” The second Agriculture Recovery Center is set for June 18th in Union County at the Southwestern Community College in Creston. The place and time for the third event is still being finalized.