USDA Designates 22 Counties in Georgia as Primary Natural Disaster Areas

  WASHINGTON, June 28, 2011 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 22 counties in Georgia as natural disaster areas because of losses caused by drought that began Dec. 15, 2010, and continues.

   “President Obama and I understand these conditions caused severe damage to forage crops, pasture, oats, rye and wheat, and we want to help,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This action will provide help to hundreds of farmers who suffered significant production losses.”

   The counties are:

Appling                       Bryan                          Effingham                   Pierce

Atkinson                     Chatham                      Irwin                           Telfair

Bacon                          Coffee                         Jeff Davis                    Thomas

Ben Hill                       Colquitt                       Lanier                          Wayne

Brantley                      Cook                           Lowndes                     Wheeler

Brooks                         Dodge                        

   Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Georgia also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous:

Berrien                        Evans                          Mitchell                       Toombs

Bleckley                      Glynn                          Montgomery               Treutlen

Bulloch                        Grady                          Pulaski                         Turner

Camden                       Laurens                       Screven                       Ware

Charlton                      Liberty                        Tattnall                        Wilcox

Clinch                          Long                            Tift                              Worth

Echols                         McIntosh

   Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Florida and South Carolina also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous:

Florida                                    Hamilton         Jefferson         Leon    Madison

                                                                                

South Carolina Hampton         Jasper             

                                                                                                                                                                       

   All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas June 24, 2011, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency (EM) loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans to help cover part 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 EM loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity.

   USDA also has made other programs available to assist farmers and ranchers, including the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE), which was approved as part of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008; the Emergency Conservation Program; Federal Crop Insurance; and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program. Interested farmers may contact their local USDA Service Centers for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs. Additional information is also available online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.

   FSA news releases are available on FSA’s website at http://www.fsa.usda.gov via the “News and Events” link.

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