COLUMBUS — The USDA designated four Ohio counties as agricultural natural disaster areas, making certain farmers and other agricultural producers in the counties eligible for low-interest emergency loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA).
Thirteen counties were designated in Indiana as primary natural disaster areas, due to severe storms, tornadoes and flooding that occurred March 8-14.
Counties
In Ohio, Defiance, Paulding, Van Wert and Williams counties are also eligible because they are contiguous.
The counties listed above were designated as natural disaster areas April 22, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low-interest emergency loans from USDA’s FSA.
Qualifying
To qualify, farmers must be unable to obtain credit from commercial sources and meet eligibility requirements. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans to help cover part or all of their actual losses.
FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.
FSA has a variety of programs, in addition to the emergency loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity.
Other programs
USDA has also made other programs available to assist farmers, including the Emergency Conservation Program, Federal Crop Insurance and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program.
Interested farmers should contact their local FSA county office for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs.
