"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:

https://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.