WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue designated 33 Pennsylvania counties as primary natural disaster areas. Producers who suffered losses caused by excessive rain, flash flooding and flooding that occurred on or after July 21, 2018, may be eligible for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loans.
Pa. counties
The counties in the primary damaged area include Adams, Blair, Cambria, Cameron, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Columbia, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Lancaster, Lebanon, Luzerne, Lycoming, McKean, Northampton, Potter, Schuylkill, Snyder, Somerset, Susquehanna, Washington, Westmoreland, Wyoming and York.
This natural disaster designation allows FSA to extend emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation or the refinance of certain debts.
Other counties
Producers in the contiguous Pennsylvania counties of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Berks, Bradford, Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Clarion, Cumberland, Dauphin, Forest, Juniata, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Mercer, Mifflin, Monroe, Montour, Northumberland, Perry, Sullivan, Tioga, Union, Venango, Warren and Wayne, along with Allegany, Baltimore, Carroll, Cecil, Frederick, Garrett, Harford and Washington counties in Maryland; Warren County, New Jersey; Allegany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Steuben and Tioga counties in New York; Ashtabula and Trumbull counties in Ohio; and Brooke, Hancock, Marshall, Monongalia, Ohio, Preston and Wetzel counties in West Virginia, are also eligible to apply for emergency loans.
The deadline to apply for these emergency loans is Nov. 20.
