Farmers who were hit by hurricanes and wildfires last year can still sign up for significant financial assistance from the USDA, but time will run out Friday, Farm Service Administrator Richard Fordyce told Agri-Pulse in an interview.

Officials estimate Hurricane Michael caused billions of dollars in damage to crops, livestock and aquaculture after slamming into the Florida Panhandle Wednesday with 155 mile-per-hour winds and then plowing a path of destruction through Alabama and Georgia.

The USDA has discovered that a cow in Florida was infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), more commonly known as mad cow disease, according to government and industry officials. A USDA spokesman confirmed that the Florida cow suffered the rare "atypical" type of BSE that is believed to develop randomly in cows.