USDA Designates 12 Counties in Florida as Primary Natural Disaster Areas

WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 26, 2011 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 12 counties in Florida as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by drought that began July 1, 2010, and continues.
   “President Obama and I understand these conditions caused severe damage to corn, cotton, soybeans, pasture and forage, and a wide variety of vegetable crops,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This action will provide help to hundreds of farmers who suffered significant production losses.”
   The counties are:  
Bay                  Gadsden          Holmes            Jackson            Martin             Wakulla
Calhoun           Gilchrist          Indian River    Madison          St. Lucie          Washington
   Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Florida also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous: 
Alachua           Dixie               Hamilton         Leon                Okeechobee    Suwannee
Brevard           Franklin           Jefferson         Levy                Osceola           Taylor
Columbia         Gulf                 Lafayette         Liberty            Palm Beach     Walton
   Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Alabama and Georgia also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous:
Alabama                
Geneva            Houston 
   
Georgia                 
Brooks            Decatur           Grady           Lowndes         Seminole  
   All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas Jan. 25, 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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