USDA's Farm Service Agency State (FSA) Executive Director Hanson Carter today announced that Georgia farmers in 21 eligible counties will soon receive about $870,200 through the Pasture Recovery Program (PRP) to help re-establish forage crops on pastures that were severely damaged by drought in 1999.

"These funds will help producers recover from the effects of the severe 1999 drought by rehabilitating valuable pastureland and providing feed for livestock," said Carter.

Eligible counties include: Banks, Barrow, Butts, Clarke, Clayton, Coweta, Fayette, Hall, Heard, Henry, Jackson, Lamar, Madison, Meriwether, Monroe, Oconee, Pike, Spalding, Taylor, Troup, and Upson.

Eligible land included pasture normally grazed by livestock, but so damaged by drought that seeding was required to re-establish the forage crop. FSA County Offices will issue payments after farmers have completed the planting practice for the re-established forage crop. "A lot of planting will occur this Fall, to replace the Fescue damaged last year," said Carter.

The Pasture Recovery Program was announced by Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman on March 13, and FSA conducted a sign-up from March 20 to June 23.

Since producer demand (nationally) exceeded the amount of

funds available by approximately $14 million, a national factor was applied to all requests. All eligible producers will receive about 73.5 percent of the amount they qualified for under PRP. Georgia FSA originally requested close to $1.2 million for PRP.

Additional information on the Pasture Recovery Program can be found on the Farm Service Agency's website on the Internet at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov. FSA's mission is to help stabilize farm income and to provide credit to new or disadvantaged farmers, help them resume their operations following a disaster, and help them conserve land and water resources.

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