Federal Helene Relief Update

Good afternoon, 

U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff would like to share that applications for the Hurricane Helene block grant program for Georgia farmers will open on Monday, March 16, 2026, and close on Monday, April 27, 2026. 

In December 2024, Sen. Ossoff helped pass $21 billion in agricultural disaster funding for farmers after the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene. The State of Georgia requested funding be delivered via a block grant — a request that Congress accommodated. 

Since, Sen. Ossoff continuously pressed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to deliver the funds to the State to be distributed to Georgia farmers trying to recover from Hurricane Helene’s devastation.  

Georgia farmers, ranchers, and foresters in eligible counties that have suffered losses in timber, infrastructure, poultry, beef cattle, dairy cattle, milk loss, dairy feed loss, pecans, blueberries, citrus, nursery, plasticulture, and bare ground practices due to Hurricane Helene are eligible to apply for the block grant. 

Eligible counties include: Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Baldwin, Ben Hill, Berrien, Bibb, Bleckley, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Camden, Candler, Charlton, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Columbia, Cook, Crisp, Decatur, Dodge, Dooly, Dougherty, Echols, Effingham, Elbert, Emanuel, Evans, Glascock, Glynn, Grady, Hancock, Houston, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Jones, Lanier, Laurens, Lee, Liberty, Lincoln, Long, Lowndes, Marion, McDuffie, McIntosh, Miller, Mitchell, Montgomery, Oglethorpe, Pierce, Pulaski, Quitman, Rabun, Randolph, Richmond, Screven, Seminole, Stewart, Sumter, Taliaferro, Tattnall, Telfair, Terrell, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Treutlen, Turner, Twiggs, Ware, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wheeler, Wilcox, Wilkes, Wilkinson, and Worth. 

For more information on the block grant application, please visit www.agr.georgia.gov/hurricane-helene-block-grant. You can also find answers to frequently asked questions here. 

If you have questions regarding the block grant application, you can contact the Georgia Department of Agriculture by phone at 404-656-3630 or via email at hbg@agr.georgia.gov. 

If you have any additional questions, please call Sen. Ossoff’s office at 202-224-3521. 

Sincerely, 

The Office of U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff