Newsletter
Southeastern Game Bird Breeders & Hunting Preserve Association
No. 3, March, 2021
2021 Short Course & Meeting
Yes, we’re going to give it a go. Our 2021 Short Course will be held April 30th in Gainesville, GA. We will be staying at the Hilton Garden Inn in Gainesville, and our meeting location will be the Georgia Poultry Lab. Room rates will be $119/night with 2 queen beds, and a free breakfast.
Hilton Garden Inn 1735 Brown’s Bridge Road, Gainesville, GA 770.532.3396
The hotel has set up a website on which you can make reservations.https://www.hilton.com/en/book/reservation/deeplink/?&ctyhocn=GVLGNGI&groupCode=SEGA&arrival=20210429&departure=20210502&cid=OM,WW,HILTONLINK,en,DirectLink&fromId=HILTONLINKDIRECT
Our meeting site at the GA Poultry Lab:Georgia Poultry Laboratory3235 Abit Massey WayGainesville, GA 30507
Appropriate seating arrangements will be available and please bring masks.
Registration for Short CoursePre-Registration Fee $75 Per Business$100 on Site, April 30
Business Name: _____________________________
Person or Persons:____________________________
___________________________________________
Email Address:______________________________
We need speakers, Please Help.
April 30 Luncheon: On Your own: This may change and may be at the meeting site. Participants can pay at the luncheon.
April 30 Auction/Banquet: $25 Per Person___________Please bring items for the auction.The auction/banquet will be held at our meeting site.
Total Remitted:___________ Please make payable to SEGB&HPAand send to:Dr. Gary S. Davis2627 Hitchcock Dr.Durham, NC 27705
Tentative Schedule
8 am to 9 am – Board Meeting, Hilton Garden Inn
9:00 Travel to Meeting Site, GA Poultry Lab
10 am to 11 am – Game Bird Disease Update – Dr Doug Anderson
11 am to 12 Noon – Raising Pheasants Indoors & More – Dr. Gary Davis
Noon to 1:30 pm – Lunch
1:30 pm to 2:15 pm – NPIP Update – Jeff Spivey
Afternoon sessions to be determined.
4 pm – General Meeting, Election of New Board Members6:30 pm – Auction/Banquet
13 Lucky Facts About St. Patrick’s Day
Before you don your “Kiss me, I’m Irish” tee and set out to find a perfect pour of Guinness (or four), read up on some history of the day where we all claim to be at least a wee bit Irish.
1. We should really be wearing blue on St. Patrick’s Day.Saint Patrick himself would have to deal with pinching on his feast day. Though we’ve come to associate kelly green with the Irish and the holiday, the 5th-century saint’s official color was “Saint Patrick’s blue,” a light shade of sky blue. The color green only became associated with the big day after it was linked to the Irish independence movement in the late 18th century.2. St. Patrick wasn’t Irish.As he made his mark by introducing Christianity to Ireland in the year 432, Patrick wasn’t Irish himself. He was born to Roman parents in Scotland or Wales in the late 4th century.3. St. Patrick’s Day used to be a dry holiday.Guinness is an inseparable part of the modern St. Patrick’s Day tradition. As you might expect, St. Patrick’s Day is a huge deal in his old stomping grounds. It’s a national holiday in both Ireland and Northern Ireland, but up until the 1970s, pubs were closed on that day. (The one exception went to beer vendors at the big national dog show, which was always held on St. Patrick’s Day.) Before that time, the saint’s feast day was considered a more solemn, strictly religious occasion. Now, the country welcomes hordes of green-clad tourists for parades, drinks, and perhaps the reciting of a few limericks.4. New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day parade has been happening since 1762.New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade is one of the world’s largest parades. Since 1762, roughly 250,000 marchers have traipsed up 5th Avenue on foot—the parade still doesn’t allow floats, cars, or other modern trappings. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York; and Miracle on 34th Street actress Maureen O’Hara have served as Grand Marshal. In 2020, the parade was canceled for the first time in its centuries-old history due to the COVID-19 pandemic.5. Chicago literally runs green for St. Patrick’s Day.New York may have more manpower, but Chicago has a spectacle all its own. The city has been celebrating St. Patrick by dumping green dye into the Chicago River since 1962. And though the organizers won’t reveal their exact formula, we do know that the orange powder used is dispersed through flour sifters by the local Plumbers Union.6. For some St. Patrick’s Day parades, it’s the thought that counts.Not every city goes all-out in its celebratory efforts. From 1999 to 2007, the Irish village of Dripsey proudly touted that it hosted the Shortest Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in the World. The route ran for 26 yards between two pubs. Today, Hot Springs, Arkansas, claims the title for brevity—a mere 98 feet.7. There’s a reason for the shamrocks.How did the shamrock become associated with St. Patrick? According to Irish legend, the saint used the three-leafed plant (which is not to be confused with the four-leaf clover) as a metaphor for the Holy Trinity when he was first introducing Christianity to Ireland.8. Cold weather helped St. Patrick’s claim to fame.In Irish lore, St. Patrick gets credit for driving all the snakes out of Ireland. Modern scientists suggest that the job might not have been too hard—according to the fossil record, Ireland has never been home to any snakes. Through the Ice Age, the island was too cold to host any reptiles, and the surrounding seas have staved off serpentine invaders ever since. Modern scholars think the “snakes” St. Patrick drove away were likely metaphorical.9. There’s no corn in that beef.Corned beef and cabbage, which has become a St. Patrick’s Day staple for Irish Americans, doesn’t have anything to do with the grain corn. Instead, it’s a nod to the large grains of salt that were historically used to cure meats, which were also known as “corns.”10. Americans run up quite a bar tab on St. Patrick’s Day.In 2017, it was estimated that 13 million pints of Guinness would be consumed worldwide on St. Patrick’s Day. And in 2020, it was estimated that in America, overall beer sales would be up 174 percent. In fact, it’s the biggest day for bars in the country. And in general, in 2020, it was expected that Americans would spend over $6 billion celebrating the holiday.11. St. Patrick’s Day could have been Saint Maewyn’s Day.According to Irish legend, St. Patrick wasn’t originally called Patrick. His birth name was Maewyn Succat, but he changed it to Patricius after becoming a priest.12. There are no female leprechauns.Don’t be fooled by any holiday decorations showing lady leprechauns. In traditional Irish folk tales, there are no female leprechauns, only nattily attired little guys who spend their days making and mending shoes (meaning they earned that gold they’re always guarding).13. St. Patrick’s Day lingo makes sense.You can’t attend a St. Patrick’s Day event without hearing a cry of “Erin go Bragh.” What’s the phrase mean? It’s a corruption of the Irish Éirinn go Brách, which means roughly “Ireland Forever.”
De-wormers: Pick Your Products Wisely
There can be quite a difference in how generic products performPUBLISHED ON March 3, 2021
DULUTH, Ga. — You’re spending hard-earned money on dewormers. But are they working hard for you?“Dewormers are just like everything else – you get what you pay for,” said Sarah Spidel, DVM, Lewisburg Animal Hospital. “If you don’t want your feet and legs to hurt after a long day of work, you’re not going to go out and buy the cheapest shoes you can find…the same concept can be applied to dewormers.”With the passage of time, patent rights have expired on the active ingredients contained in brand name dewormers and predictably, several generic products are now on the market. For the original clearance of each product, numerous studies were conducted regarding safety, residues, formulation and efficacy. However, little information on the efficacy of new generic products has been published.While the active ingredient may be the same, there can be many differences in how a dewormer is manufactured, the quality measures taken and even the other ingredients included. As a result, there can be quite a difference in how some generic products perform.What to look for on the product label.Product labels contain important information that can help you gauge the value of each dewormer on the shelf. When looking at product labels, Jody Wade, DVM, Boehringer Ingelheim, encourages producers to answer the following questions:
- How many parasites is the dewormer able to control? “On some of the labels out there, it’s hard to find what parasites the products have been tested against, and what each product has actually been proven to kill. Be sure the product is backed by extensive research.”
- Is it weatherproof? You don’t want the product to wash off if it happens to rain later in the day, or if the cattle decide to go for a swim in a nearby water source.
- Does the product come with a satisfaction guarantee? Companies that offer product satisfaction guarantees trust in their products, which gives customers confidence that they can too.
“If the product is not able to do the job you paid for it to do, it’s worthless in my opinion,” said Dr. Spidel. “The inexpensive dewormers are not saving you money if they end up costing you reduced herd performance.”Avoid parasite resistance on your operation“It’s not easy to reverse parasite resistance in a herd, and research has shown that generic deworming products were not as efficacious as branded products on the market,” said Dr. Wade. “Choosing a dewormer with proven efficacy and following sustainable deworming best practices is one of the best ways to make sure resistance doesn’t occur on your operation.”Dr. Spidel adds that it’s also difficult for the dewormer to do its job if not administered correctly. Read the label to be certain the product is stored correctly, the dose you’re administering is accurate for the weight of animal you’re treating and that your equipment is properly functioning prior to treating the animals. Pour-on dewormers should be applied along the topline in a narrow strip from withers to tailhead.Finally, Drs. Wade and Spidel encourage producers to consult a local veterinarian. He or she can help you choose the best product(s) for your herd and identify ways to boost the efficacy of your deworming program. Your grazing period, the age and category of your animals, your operation type and history of the pasture are all considerations to discuss.— Boehringer Ingelheim
Backyard Chickens Risk Pathogen Spread
Game Bird Producers Should Also Take Note of These Recommendations
Most well-known pathogen carried by chickens is salmonellaPUBLISHED ON March 2, 2021
ATHENS, Ga. — Keeping backyard chickens was already on the rise, and the hobby has become even more popular during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, a University of Georgia researcher cautions that the practice has risks not just for chickens, but for wildlife and people as well.“As a researcher who studies pathogen movement along different groups, I see backyard chickens as a potential interface where pathogens can spill over into wild birds, or vice versa, and even into people,” said Sonia Hernandez, professor of wildlife disease at the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources and the College of Veterinary Medicine. “Owners need to seek information and medical care for their animals to minimize those risks.”Hernandez and first author Andrea Ayala published their comprehensive reviewof pathogen transmission at the backyard chicken-wild bird interface in Frontiers in Veterinary Science. Ayala, now a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University, earned a Ph.D. in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Comparative Biomedical Sciences program.The most well-known pathogen carried by chickens is salmonella, and almost everyone is aware of it, said Hernandez. That’s due to public education and outreach efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and public health agencies.Food is the source for most of the estimated 1.35 million salmonella infections in people every year in the United States, according to the CDC. Most people who get ill from salmonella experience diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps, but there are 26,500 hospitalizations and 420 deaths every year.“They’re trying to stay on top of salmonella in backyard chickens because they have seen an explosion of salmonellosis in people as a result of this recent popularity of keeping chickens,” she said. “It can become especially dangerous if you mix little chickens with little people—young chickens that are shedding a lot of salmonella with small kids that don’t have the best hygiene practices.”How to reduce risksAyala identified a number of practices that backyard chicken owners can implement to reduce the risk of pathogen emergence:
- keeping backyard chicken feeders where only chickens can reach them
- getting rid of wild bird feeders
- using mesh small enough to prevent wild birds from interacting with chickens
- removing contaminated water sources, insects and rodents; maintaining good hygiene—changing footwear, for example—when visiting different flocks
- limiting the number of visitors
“As backyard chickens become more common, the interactions between wild birds and backyard chickens are also likely to increase,” Ayala said. “Wild birds are attracted to food, water and shelter, and backyard chickens provide all three.”The researchers’ concerns and recommendations won’t be a surprise to people who are familiar with raising chickens, especially commercial growers, who are very aware of rules from agencies like the U.S. Department of Agriculture that oversee animal health, according to Hernandez. “The people who will find it the most surprising are newcomers, who get a few chickens as a hobby and have never really thought about the health of their chickens, their own health, and the impact that chickens can have on their environment,” she said. Past examples of disease spill over As Hernandez and Ayala document in their paper, it is well established that backyard chickens may serve as pathogen reservoirs to the commercial poultry industry and that the most likely mechanism of spillover involves wild birds. Perhaps the best documented example of a bacterial pathogen transmission from chickens to wild birds is Mycoplasma gallisepticum, a bacterium that causes chronic respiratory illness in chickens, which spilled over from poultry in 1994 into house finches and rapidly became endemic in North American passerine species. The U.S. has experienced outbreaks of both Newcastle disease and avian influenza, including an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the winter of 2016-17 that involved several backyard operations, Hernandez said. “Historically, most highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses only affected chickens in commercial operations,” she said, “but recently, we have seen that they can—in rare cases—move into people, and there are increasing reports of it affecting backyard chickens and wild birds. ”If this kind of spillover event happens, it’s possible that the damage could extend beyond economic losses to include the loss of human life, she said. responsibility “People need to recognize that they have to take some responsibility for their health and the health of their animals,” Hernandez said. “Also, we’re living in a pandemic at the moment because of a spillover event, plain and simple. ”Co-authors include Michael Yabsley, UGA professor of wildlife disease with a joint appointment in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources and the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study at the College of Veterinary Medicine. This research was funded by a grant to Ayala and Hernandez from the Poultry Respiratory Disease Coordinated Agricultural Project. Research funds were also provided to Ayala by the Oconee Rivers Audubon Society and the Georgia Ornithological Society and the UGA Graduate School. Ayala was supported by fellowships through the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine, the Ford Fellowship Foundation and the American Association of University Women.–Allyson Mann, University of Georgia
New Study Examines Importance, Unique Traits of Female Farmers The number of farms operated by women has risen over the past two decades PUBLISHED ON March 7, 2021
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — While women can be drawn into farming for many reasons, researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences have found that female-owned farms in the U.S. are more common in areas that are closer to urban markets, that engage in agritourism activity, and that offer greater access to childcare. The number of farms operated by women has risen over the past two decades, said Claudia Schmidt, assistant professor of marketing and local/regional food systems. The U.S. Department of Agriculture changed the way it counts the operators of farms in its most recent Census of Agriculture, allowing for up to four principal operators per farm. This has inflated the number of female operators somewhat, but female participation in agriculture is nonetheless at an all-time high, said Schmidt. “This type of research is needed not just for reasons of equity, but also to support a more diverse and resilient agricultural sector in general,” said Schmidt. “Without knowing more about female farm-operators’ decision making, agricultural service providers have had to make assumptions about the type of information and products that are useful to them. Our analysis shows some of the ways in which female-owned farms are unique and it can offer important insights into how best to serve this population. ”Using data from the U.S. Census of Agriculture from 2002-2017, Schmidt and her colleagues developed a statistical model to examine the relationship between a county’s share of female-operated farms and the conditions in the county. Their goal was to shed light on aspects of the local economic and agricultural ecosystems that are most strongly associated with female-owned farms. The researchers identified 10 economic variables hypothesized to matter, including unemployment, non-farm wages, availability of childcare, and the rate of female participation in the labor force. They also examined the total number of farms, average farm size and annual sales, average farmer age, and the types of farm activities carried out. They looked at each variable in isolation to determine which variables are independently and most strongly associated with the share of female-operated farms. “We wanted to understand why women are drawn to farming,” said Stephan Goetz, professor of agricultural and regional economics and director of the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development (NERCRD). “Is it because they want to engage in this kind of work, or is it because they are pushed into farming due to a lack of other economic opportunities locally? We also wanted to examine how local agricultural conditions — what farming generally looks like in a given place — relate to women’s participation in agriculture. ”The analysis, which was recently published in Food Policy, shows that more female-owned farms are found where average farm size is below 50 acres, where annual farm sales average less than $10,000 per farm, where more farms specialize in grazing sheep or goats, and where agritourism activities — which attract visitors to farms — are more common. The researchers also found that direct-to-consumer sales are more prevalent in counties with more female-owned farms. It is therefore not surprising that urban areas with high population densities have more female-owned farms than more rural areas do, said Goetz. “Our findings suggest that females are more likely to engage in the type of farming that benefits from being in or near urban locations,” said Goetz. “In addition to offering more opportunities to market directly to consumers, urban and suburban locations also offer greater access to childcare than rural areas, and our research showed the availability of childcare is correlated with the number of female-owned farms in a county. ”The researchers also noted that the share of farms with female operators is higher in counties with a greater total number of farms, which could reflect increased opportunities for networking and learning through knowledge-sharing networks. “Our research suggests that female-owned farms are more common in certain economic and agricultural ecosystems,” Schmidt said. “Therefore, they likely have different needs in terms of education and support, and this research is an important step in identifying these differences. ”Among other questions, future research will look at the impact of female-owned farms on local economic and agricultural conditions.–Penn State
Multiple Rural Georgia Internet Projects Announced
Residents in 26 Georgia counties will soon benefit from enhanced internet connectivity PUBLISHED ON February 21, 2021
MACON, Ga. — Residents in 26 Georgia counties will soon benefit from enhanced internet con nectivity as EMCs, medical providers and federal agencies recently announced partnerships and funding for multiple projects in Georgia .On Feb. 8, Central Georgia EMC (Jackson, GA) and Southern Rivers Energy (Barnesville, GA) unveiled their a new partnership with Conexon to provide high-speed internet to 80,000 homes and businesses in 18 Middle Georgia counties: Bibb, Butts, Clayton, Coweta, Crawford, Fayette, Henry, Jasper, Jones, Lamar, Meriwether, Monroe, Morgan, Newton, Pike, Putnam, Spalding, and Upson. The partnership includes a capital investment of more than $210 million overall. Central Georgia EMC (CGEMC) will invest $135 million, Southern Rivers Energy (SRE) will invest $53 million, and Conexon will contribute $21.5 million. Monroe County has also committed $1.3 million in local funds to incentivize the EMCs to start their projects in Monroe County. Under terms of the agreement, the EMCs will partner with Conexon, a full-service fiber broadband provider, to design and build a 6,890-mile fiber network that will serve two strategic purposes: provide improved electric service and increased reliability through smart grid capabilities, and provide high-speed internet access to all 80,000 of the two EMCs’ members within the next four years, beginning as early as June 2021. Conexon works exclusively with electric cooperatives and is considered one of the pioneers in the electric cooperative broadband movement. The two EMCs will own the fiber and lease excess capacity to Conexon which has agreed to serve every EMC member with fiber-to-the-home internet speeds up to 1 gigabit per second. The internet service will be powered by EMC fiber, but Conexon will provide the retail service to homes and businesses, managing account set-up, customer service and billing. On Jan. 15, the FCC announced an initial set of 14 pilot projects as a part of its Connected Care Pilot Program. A total of $26.6 million will be awarded to these applicants for proposed projects to treat nearly half a million patients in both urban and rural parts of the country. Overall, this Pilot Program will make available up to $100 million over a three-year period for selected pilot projects for qualifying purchases necessary to provide connected care services, with a particular emphasis on providing connected care services to low-income and veteran patients. Included in the pilot funding recipients was Phoebe Putney Health System in Southwest Georgia, which requested $673,200 to provide patient-based Internet-connected remote monitoring, video visits, and remote treatment for low-income patients suffering from chronic conditions or mental health conditions. These projects plan to serve an estimated 4,007 patients, approximately 1,000 of which will be low-income patients in six sites serving southwest Georgia. Phoebe providers participating in the project are: Phoebe Worth Medical Center – Camilla Clinic; Phoebe Physicians Group Inc. – PPC of Buena Vista, Buena Vista; Phoebe Physicians Group – Ellaville Primary Medicine Center, Ellaville; Phoebe Family Medicine & Sports Medicine, Americus; Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, Albany; Phoebe Family Medicine – Sylvester, Sylvester. The Pilot Program will use Universal Service Fund monies to help defray the costs of connected care services for eligible health care providers, providing support for 85% of the cost of eligible services and network equipment, which include: (1) patient broadband Internet access services; (2) health care provider broadband data connections; (3) other connected care information services; and (4) certain network equipment. These pilot projects will address a variety of critical health issues such as high-risk pregnancy, mental health conditions, and opioid dependency, among others. On Jan. 7, the USDA announced a $4.6 million grant to provide broadband service in unserved and underserved rural areas in Southeast Georgia. This investment is part of the $550 million Congress allocated to the second round of the ReConnect Program. Pembroke Telephone Company Inc. will use a $4.6 million ReConnect grant to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network. This network will connect 3,554 people, 73 farms and 19 businesses to high-speed broadband internet in Evans and Tattnall counties in Georgia. In March 2018, Congress provided $600 million to USDA to expand broadband infrastructure and services in rural America. On Dec. 13, 2018, Secretary Perdue announced the rules of the program, called “ReConnect,” including how the loans and grants will be awarded to help build broadband infrastructure in rural America. USDA received 11 Round Two ReConnect Program applications that are eligible for the $100 million Congress allocated to the program through the CARES Act. To learn more about Re-Connect Program eligibility, technical assistance and recent announcements, visit www.usda.gov/reconnect.–Georgia Farm Bureau
SC Women’s Agriculture Network Promotes Collaboration Statewide networking for women in agriculture PUBLISHED ON March 8, 2021
Clemson University’s Cooperative Extension aims to support women in agriculture through the S.C. Women’s Agriculture Network (S.C. WAgN)Women comprise more than 14 percent of total producers and are taking a more active role in day-to-day agriculture and farm operations. Data from the 2017 Census of Agriculture for South Carolina indicates between 2012 and 2017 alone, South Carolina saw a 27.8 percent increase in female producers and a 56.9 percent increase in females as the principal producer on the farm .In the spring of 2020, Clemson Cooperative Extension Director Thomas Dobbins, and Clemson University Sandhill Research and Education Center (REC) Director, Dr. Kathy Coleman, called on women across Extension to come together and revive S.C. WAgN for a unified approach in women-centric programming. Extension has an outstanding cadre of women who can drive programming that would bring much-needed information to an ever-expanding sector of the agricultural and natural resource industry statewide. Some Extension program teams are already delivering programs focused on women, but it is always good to share ideas and collaborate to enhance Extension’s ability to serve stakeholders. Kathy Coleman, Director of the Sandhill REC The S.C. WAgN committee launched a statewide needs assessment survey in 2020 to identify critical resources needed to help guide future programming and delivery. Current programs aligning under the S.C. WAgN umbrella include Ladies Engaged in Agriculture Development (LEAD), S.C. Women Owning Woodlands (WOW), and Annie’s Project. Both S.C. WOW and Annie’s Project are state chapters within national programs. LEAD, Annie’s Project and WOW offer events throughout the year and have moved to virtual offerings due to the pandemic. LEAD focuses on general agriculture topics and hosts quarterly seminars for women in agriculture. Annie’s Project is a national program for women that focuses on the business side of farming and will hold a virtual conference in May. The S.C. Annie’s Project program covers financial management, human resources, marketing and legal issues. Registration is open for the May conference here. The S.C. WOW program was established to educate women on management decisions for forestland they or their family own. Upcoming S.C. WOW events can be found here, and a new video library of virtual programming covering forest management and other topics is available here. Women in any nature segment/aspect of the agricultural and natural resources sector in South Carolina are encouraged to connect with and join S.C. WAgN and fill out the needs assessment survey here. Empowering women in agriculture and providing opportunities to expand knowledge and network with other women in the field is of the utmost importance to the S.C. WAgN team. The S.C. WAgN committee is also looking to expand partnerships across South Carolina in the agricultural sector. For more information, contact Charley Maxwell at chmaxwe@clemson.edu.–Clemson University SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans Available in North Carolina Submit completed loan applications to SBA no later than Oct. 12, 2021PUBLISHED ON February 22, 2021
ATLANTA – The U.S. Small Business Administration announced today that Economic Injury Disaster Loans are available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture, and private nonprofit organizations in North Carolina as a result of excessive rain that occurred from April 1 to Nov. 14, 2020.The loans are available in the following counties: Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Beaufort, Bertie, Caldwell, Carteret, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Hyde, Iredell, Jones, Martin, Onslow, Pender, Surry, Tyrrell, Washington, Watauga, Wilkes and Yadkin in North Carolina. “When the Secretary of Agriculture issues a disaster declaration to help farmers recover from damages and losses to crops, the Small Business Administration issues a declaration to eligible entities, affected by the same disaster,” said Kem Fleming, director of SBA’s Field Operations Center East. Under this declaration, the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program is available to eligible farm- related and nonfarm-related entities that suffered financial losses as a direct result of this disaster. Except for aquaculture enterprises, SBA cannot provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers and ranchers. The loan amount can be up to $2 million with interest rates of 3.75 percent for small businesses and 2.75 percent for private nonprofit organizations of all sizes, with terms up to 30 years. The SBA determines eligibility based on the size of the applicant, type of activity and its financial resources. Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based on each applicant’s financial condition. These working capital loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other bills that could have been paid had the disaster not occurred. The loans are not intended to replace lost sales or profits. Applicants may apply online using the Electronic Loan Application (ELA) via SBA’s secure website at DisasterLoan.sba.gov and should apply under SBA declaration # 16871, not for the COVID-19 incident. Disaster loan information and application forms may also be obtained by calling the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 (800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) or by sending an email to DisasterCustomerService@sba.gov. Loan applications can be downloaded from sba.gov/disaster. Completed applications should be mailed to: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.Submit completed loan applications to SBA no later than Oct. 12, 2021.NC 16871 Sec Ag Fact Sheet–U.S. Small Business Administration
All-Electric Tractors Now Available for Reservation Solectrac launches reservation program for its all-electric tractors PUBLISHED ON February 22, 2021
SANTA ROSA, Calif. — As demand has grown quickly for Solectrac’s first to market all-electric tractors, the company announced its new reservation campaign. With a $1000 deposit, reduced from fifty percent of the total cost, customers can now reserve their place in the productions line. “We’ve decided to decrease the initial deposit to allow customers to express their interest and intent. This is good for our customers and good for our production line,” said Steve Heckeroth, CEO/Founder.
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