NORTH DAKOTA – North Dakota farmers and ranchers can apply for the Grain Storage and Facility Rebuilder Program to repair or replace damaged grain storage infrastructure from devastating storms that hit the state June 20.
The program allows producers to apply for a loan up to $150,000 through the Bank of North Dakota at two percent interest for temporary grain storage. They won’t have to use anything as collateral. This includes baggers, extractors or hopper bins to use for this year’s harvest.
Farmers can also apply to repair or build permanent grain storage. Those loan amounts will be based on reimbursement from insurance and may require additional collateral if gap financing is needed.
Other producers can use the program to help fix barns, machine sheds and pivot irrigation systems.
Producers will need to contact their bank or credit union to fill out an application for the program. They have until December 31 to do so.
“This is nowhere near enough. We’re not going to make people in The Valley whole, but hopefully this will help people survive what can hopefully be for all of our sakes a once-in-a-lifetime storm,” Governor Kelly Armstrong said when he announced the program July 1.
Steve Johnson farms nearly 8,000 acres with his son near Page. They lost 400,000 bushels worth of grain storage during the storm. He thanked Governor Armstrong for working with the Bank of North Dakota and the Industrial Commission to create the Grain Storage and Facility Rebuilder Program.
“I’ve got a 20,000 bushel bin that [was blown] a half mile from my farm. This is a really good example of how government should work with a natural disaster. Thank you for the help that this will provide and it will be a great bridge finance to get bins up for other farmers,” Johnson said on July 1.
Armstrong believes the storms will meet the guidelines for a federal disaster declaration. He stressed that’s only to get federal money after all damage is assessed.
The National Weather Service says 13 tornadoes hit North Dakota June 20. Three people died in Enderlin and one person died in the Courtenay area. The North Dakota State University Extension Office, which is doing damage assessments after the storms, says 126,000 acres of cropland has been damaged statewide.
