LIHU‘E — A few months ago the United States Department of Agriculture announced that farmers who live in geographically disadvantaged areas would be eligible to receive reimbursement for a portion of the freight cost. That money may arrive as early
LIHU‘E — A few months ago the United States Department of Agriculture announced that farmers who live in geographically disadvantaged areas would be eligible to receive reimbursement for a portion of the freight cost.
That money may arrive as early as mid-December, depending on how fast the federal agencies in Washington, D.C. process the payments, USDA Executive Director Robert Ishikawa said.
“Right now we’re sitting on $147,000,” he said, adding that when the few applications left are processed, Kaua‘i farmers should receive a combined total reimbursement of roughly $150,000.
The USDA, through the Food Conservation and Energy Act of 2008, authorized the Reimbursement Transportation Cost Payment for farmers and ranchers who live in geographically disadvantaged areas.
The program reaches out to farmers and ranchers in Hawai‘i, Puerto Rico, Alaska, the U.S. Virgin Islands and any U.S. territory in the Pacific Basin.
For the current fiscal year, the USDA office in Lihu‘e took applications until Sept. 10. Now, two months later, the application processing work is almost finished.
Ishikawa said that out of 61 applicants, 57 will be eligible to receive money back. Some of those farmers will receive the maximum allowed reimbursement of $8,000.
Danielle Cooke, special programs manager in Washington D.C., said in a Nov. 4 e-mail addressed to all regional USDA offices that the next step will be loading data into spreadsheets, which are currently being tested in Kansas City, Missouri.
“I’ve been told that they may be ready by the end of next week. We will still have to wait on software for payment processing, which is tentatively expected in December,” Cooke said in the e-mail.
Ishikawa said the agency is expecting the payment software to be available by mid-December. But because there are several offices involved in the payment processing, and December is the holiday season, there’s a chance the payment may be delayed, he said.
The farmers and ranchers who applied for the program should be receiving an e-mail from the USDA soon, explaining the next steps.
For more information, call Ishikawa at 245-9014.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@kauaipubco.com.
