Apr 17, 2014

Disaster assistance available for tree fruit

USDA has announced that growers who experienced losses from natural disasters that occurred on or after Oct. 1, 2011, can now sign up for the Tree Assistance Program (TAP). TAP was authorized by the Agricultural Act of 2014 (farm bill) as a permanent disaster program.

TAP provides financial assistance to qualifying growers to replant or rehabilitate eligible trees damaged by natural disasters, according to Michigan Processing Apple Growers.

To qualify for TAP, growers must suffer tree loss in excess of 15 percent mortality from an eligible natural disaster. Eligible trees must have been owned when the natural disaster occurred, but eligible growers are not required to own the land on which the eligible trees were planted.

Once the TAP application is approved, the eligible trees must be replaced within 12 months of the date of approval. The cumulative total quantity of acres planted to trees for which a grower can receive TAP payments cannot exceed 500 acres annually, according to Michigan Processing Apple Growers.

For more information, view the 2014 TAP fact sheet.