Nearly $2 Billion Now Available for Eligible Producers Affected by 2017 Hurricanes and Wildfires
WASHINGTON, July 16, 2018 – Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue today announced that agricultural producers affected by hurricanes and wildfires in 2017 now may apply for assistance to help recover and rebuild their farming operations. Signup begins July 16, 2018, and continues through November 16, 2018.
“Hurricanes and wildfires caused billions of dollars in losses to America’s farmers last year. Our objective is to get relief funds into the hands of eligible producers as quickly as possible,” said Secretary Perdue. “We are making immediate, initial payments of up to 50 percent of the calculated assistance so producers can pay their bills.”
Additional payments will be issued, if funds remain available, later in the year.
The program, known as the 2017 Wildfires and Hurricanes Indemnity Program (2017 WHIP) was authorized by Congress earlier this year by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.
Eligible crops, trees, bushes, or vines, located in a county declared in a Presidential Emergency Disaster Declaration or Secretarial Disaster Designation as a primary county are eligible for assistance if the producer suffered a loss as a result of a 2017 hurricane. Also, losses located in a county not designated as a primary county may be eligible if the producer provides documentation showing that the loss was due to a hurricane or wildfire in 2017. A list of counties that received qualifying hurricane declarations and designations is available at www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/disaster-assistance-program/wildfires-and-hurricanes-indemnity-program/index. Eligibility is determined by Farm Service Agency (FSA) county committees.
Agricultural production losses due to conditions caused by last year’s wildfires and hurricanes, including excessive rain, high winds, flooding, mudslides, fire, and heavy smoke, could qualify for assistance through the program. Typically, 2017 WHIP is only designed to provide assistance for production losses, however, if quality was taken into consideration under the insurance or Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) policy, where production was further adjusted, the adjusted production will be used in calculating assistance under this program.
Eligible crops include those for which federal crop insurance or NAP coverage is available, excluding crops intended for grazing. A list of crops covered by crop insurance is available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Actuarial Information Browser at webapp.rma.usda.gov/apps/actuarialinformationbrowser.
Eligibility will be determined for each producer based on the size of the loss and the level of insurance coverage elected by the producer. A WHIP factor will be determined for each crop based on the producer’s coverage level. Producers who elected higher coverage levels will receive a higher WHIP factor.
The 2017 WHIP payment factor ranges from 65 percent to 95 percent, depending upon the level of crop insurance coverage or NAP coverage that a producer obtained for the crop. Producers who did not insure their crops in 2017 will receive 65 percent of the expected value of the crop. Insured producers will receive between 70 percent and 95 percent of expected value; those who purchased the highest levels of coverage will receive 95-percent coverage.
Each eligible producer requesting 2017 WHIP benefits will be subject to a payment limitation of either $125,000 or $900,000, depending upon their average adjusted gross income, which will be verified. The payment limit is $125,000 if less than 75 percent of the person or legal entity’s average adjusted gross income is average adjusted gross farm income. The payment limit is $900,000, if 75 percent or more of the average adjusted gross income of the person or legal entity is average adjusted gross farm income.
Both insured and uninsured producers are eligible to apply for 2017 WHIP. However, all producers receiving 2017 WHIP payments will be required to purchase crop insurance and/or NAP, at the 60 percent coverage level or higher, for the next two available crop years to meet statutory requirements. Producers who fail to purchase crop insurance for the next two applicable years will be required to pay back the 2017 WHIP payment.
To help expedite payments, a producer who does not have records established at the local USDA service center are encouraged to do so early in the process. To establish a record for a farm, a producer needs:
Once signup begins, a producer will be asked to provide verifiable and reliable production records. If a producer is unable to provide production records, USDA will calculate the yield based on the county average yield. A producer with this information on file does not need to provide the information again.
For more information on FSA disaster assistance programs, please contact your local USDA service center or visit www.farmers.gov/recover/whip.
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TINY STILLS
Announces Summer Tour
With Get Married
New Album
Laughing Into The Void
Available Now at TinyStills.com
"If you take one listen, you will find yourself either tapping along or keeping up with
the perfectly placed whistling in the chorus." - Substream Magazine
"Tiny Stills offer refreshing power-pop charged with
an array of dynamic, intoxicating emotion." - Atwood Magazine
July 16, 2018 - Los Angeles, CA - Power pop band Tiny Stills has announced that they will be hitting the road this summer in support of their sophomore album, Laughing Into the Void. A full U.S. tour with fellow Californians Get Married, this summer run kicks off on August 10th in Los Angeles, and includes stops in Las Vegas, Houston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Chicago, and more. For a full list of dates, please see below or visit: www.tinystills.com
Tiny Stills is a power pop band from Los Angeles influenced by Courtney Barnett, That Dog, and 90s/00s rock. Their first album, Falling is like Flying was released in 2014 and was a direct response to the isolation and anxiety that comes from life changing events after front-person and founding member Kailynn West was held up at gunpoint. It's upbeat and pop-y melodies were born from a desire to make something that felt and sounded nothing like the she felt at the time - happy. Since then, West has been the nucleus of the project with a rotating cast of band members, but most recent lineup includes Harry Foster (bass), Zach Comtois (guitar), and Tony Thaxton (drums).
After a last-minute lineup change left an opening on a national tour with Bayside's Anthony Raneri and A.W. in 2015, West stepped in at the last minute to complete the tour as Tiny Stills. She sold thank you cards with download links as merchandise after selling out of physical copies of the first record; from there, the project hit the ground running.
Tiny Stills released their sophomore album, Laughing Into the Void, on June 1st, 2018. The record premiered in full on Music Connection, in addition to being featured on Substream Magazine, Atwood Magazine, BuzzBands.LA, Hype Machine, and more. Full of brutal honesty, crunchy guitars, and catchy melodies, Laughing into the Void is here to help you remember that even the worst days have a silver lining: at least you're not alone.
For more information:
Website: www.tinystills.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/tinystills
Twitter: www.twitter.com/tinystills
Instagram: www.facebook.com/tinystills
Upcoming Tour Dates w/Get Married:
Friday, August 10 - Los Angeles, CA - Space 15 Twenty
Saturday, August 11 - Fullerton, CA - Riff Mountain
Sunday, August 12 - San Diego, CA - Trevor's House
Monday, August 13 - Las Vegas, NV - Cornish Pasty
Wednesday August 15 - Phoenix, AZ - The Trunk Space
Friday, August 17 - Denton, TX - The Bean Cave
Sunday, August 19 - Houston, TX - The Black Box
Thursday, August 23 - Memphis, TN - The Hi-Tone
Friday, August 24 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade (Purgatory)
Sunday, August 26 - Richmond, VA - The Camel
Monday, August 27 - Philadelphia, PA - The Pharmacy
Wednesday, August 29 - Brooklyn, NY - Gold Sounds
Thursday, August 30 - Baltimore, MD - The Sidebar
Friday, August 31 - Pittsburgh, PA - Cattivo
Saturday, September 1- Newport, KY - Wooden Cask Brewery
Sunday, September 2 - Chicago IL - Gman Tavern
Thursday, September 7 - Denver, CO - Moe's
Saturday, September 8 - Fort Collins, CO - Pinball Jones Campus West
Sunday, September 9 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Underground
Monday, September 10 - Boise, ID - Mike's House
Tuesday, September 11 - Seattle, WA - Victory Lounge
Wednesday, September 12 - Portland, OR - Geodesic Art Space
Thursday, September 13 - Chico, CA - Naked Lounge
Friday, September 14 - Sacramento, CA - Cafe Colonial
Saturday, September 15 - San Jose, CA - The Art Boutiki
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Let your customers or clients know that your business, nonprofit or government agency practices the highest ethical standards.
Nominate your organization for the Utah Ethical Leadership Awards by July 30 at Eccles.link/ethics-awards.
The awards are free to enter, and they are judged by a panel of academics and professionals to see how well your organization meets the ethical standards established by business giant Bill Daniels.
Please click here for a PDF of the questions in the nomination form to help you prepare information for the online entry.
Learn more in this video featuring Dr. Abe Bakhsheshy, the director of the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative at the David Eccles School of Business.
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Where Was Management In Latest
High-Profile Regulatory Lapses?
There are the types of ethical and regulatory lapses that are so predictable – we aren’t surprised when we hear about them. We should react though because they are avoidable.
Recently U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigations into Wells Fargo Advisors, FINRA investigations into Betterment Securities as well as investigations into Nissan’s emissions practices show us companies continue to have compliance breaches even though they have top management. Why is that?
“When you read about each of these situations, you can’t help but ask yourself, ‘What was management thinking,’ ” says Beth Haddock (www.bethhaddock.com), a compliance attorney and author of Triple Bottom-Line Compliance: How to Deliver Protection, Productivity and Impact.
In the Wells Fargo case, the SEC found that the firm generated large fees by improperly encouraging retail customers to actively trade financial products that were intended to be held until maturity. The strategy generated substantial fees for Wells Fargo, while reducing customers’ investment returns.
Wells Fargo reached a settlement with the SEC, agreeing to pay back the customers with interest, and paying a penalty.
“These are the types of issues that management and its compliance officers are supposed to address,” says Haddock, who is also CEO of Warburton Advisers, a consulting firm that advises companies on compliance and ethical issues particularly when there’s a crisis.
“But too often, compliance officers find themselves addressing problems after they arise. Instead, they should be given a more active role in the overall organization, anticipating and heading off serious problems before they reach the crisis stage and helping managers who use ‘fudge-factor’ thinking avoid poor management decisions”
Haddock believes the time is ripe for management to task compliance officers to take such a sustainable-governance approach. Haddock sees three compelling reasons for doing that:
“A compliance officer focused on governance adds value as a business leader,” Haddock says. “Instead of just thinking about technical requirements, answering the questions asked, or putting out the latest fire, the successful compliance officer is improving productivity, processes and performance. That way, many of those ‘fires’ won’t happen to begin with.”
About Beth Haddock
Beth Haddock (www.bethhaddock.com), CEO and founder of Warburton Advisers, is the author of Triple Bottom-Line Compliance: How to Deliver Protection, Productivity and Impact. She has more than 20 years of experience as a compliance and business executive. Her consulting firm provides sustainable governance and compliance solutions to leading international corporations, technology companies, and nonprofits.
