Overview

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What is the TAA Technical Assistance Requirement?

• Benefit: TAA technical assistance for shrimp producers in South Carolina, Texas and Georgia is one of the benefits of the TAA for Farmers and Fishermen program. The technical assistance will include information on the status of world shrimp markets and supply, options for value adding and alternative marketing of your shrimp, evaluating your operation’s business viability, analyzing production costs, and links to training opportunities available to producers.
  
• Requirement: TAA applicants are required to meet with an Extension Service employee or agent to receive technical assistance training before receiving a TAA payment from the USDA Farm Service Agency.
  
  Applicants do not need to have received technical assistance in order to file their TAA application at the USDA Farm Service Agency by the application deadline.

How will applicants receive technical assistance?

• Workshops: TAA technical assistance will be offered through a series of 1 to 2 hour workshops conducted by Cooperative Extension in the Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina as well as Sea Grant in North Carolina and Texas. Workshops will be scheduled so that every eligible producer will have access to technical assistance.

How do applicants find out where they can receive TAA technical Assistance?

• Schedule: The workshops will be mostly concentrated in the coastal counties where wild shrimp are landed. TAA technical assistance sessions will begin shortly after the end of the sign-up period. The finalized schedule will be widely distributed in each state through direct mail, news releases to all of the major print and electronic news outlets and will be posted here.
   
• Certificate of attendance: At the conclusion of a workshop, you will receive two copies of a certificate of attendance. Present or mail one copy of the certificate of attendance to the Farm Service Agency to certify that you have received the required technical assistance, and keep the other for your records.