By: | Virginia Mercury
Next week, the Virginia Farm Recovery Block Grant Program will reopen, allowing local farmers and timber producers to apply for financial assistance to recover from Hurricane Helene, which battered Southwest Virginia in 2024. The application portal will reopen on April 27 and close on July 1.
The funding can aid in recovering costs for farm infrastructure, roads and bridges, irrigation systems, and loss of perennial crops, among other eligible uses, state officials said Monday.
“Helene caused widespread devastation in Southwest and Southside, resulting in millions of dollars in damage to property. Many farmers and forest landowners impacted by the storm continue to rebuild, nearly two years after the flood waters receded,” Gov. Abigail Spanberger said in a statement announcing the program’s revival.
Applications will be available for producers across the 21 counties and six independent cities that were placed under a federal disaster declaration due to the storm. Helene wrought an estimated $159 million in damage to Virginia farms. Grayson, Wythe, Smyth, Washington, and Carroll counties were hit the hardest and sustained the most harm.
“Agriculture and forestry are major economic drivers for the Virginia communities impacted by Helene,” Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Katie Frazier said in a statement. “The Virginia Farm Recovery Block grant provides direct funding for losses not covered by other federal disaster assistance programs.”
The block grant program is “vital to the rebuilding process” for farmers and forestry workers statewide, Frazier added.
In the first round of the program that ran between Sept. 22, 2025 to Nov. 6, 2025, a total of 494 applications were submitted. The first awards were delivered earlier this year.
The grant program is administered by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services with coordination through the Department of Forestry and the Virginia Cooperative Extension.
VDACS will hold an in-person training session covering eligibility, requirements and how to apply on May 1 at 10 a.m. at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center (One Partnership Circle Abingdon, Virginia 24210, room 240).
Anyone who can’t come in person can also attend a virtual briefing.