By Alan Sorensen
Mike Zook announced this morning that crop disaster payments were authorized this week and will be made in the next 30 days.
Zook, executive director of Farm Services Agency in Hill County, said payments in Hill County will exceed $1 million on 1,700 claims filed by area farmers and ranchers. He said that the final payments in the disaster payment program came in at 69.6 percent of the producers' projected eligibility.
"Essentially, we're almost doubling the advance payments that had earlier gone out," Zook said. "The crop disaster program was put together by Congress to help farmers who suffered losses during the 1999 crop year."
The program covers all crops including grass seed, oil seeds, hay crops, small grains, and other specialty crops grown in Hill County, he said.
The FSA office in Hill County is located at 206 25th Ave. W. in Havre. The phone number is 265-6792.
