USDA designates 37 N.C. counties as primary natural disaster areas because of drought

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced today that it had designated 37 counties in North Carolina as primary natural disaster areas because of losses caused by drought and excessive heat that occurred during 2011.

Those counties are:

Farmers in the following N.C. counties also qualify for natural-disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous to primary natural disaster counties:

Disaster designation makes qualified farmers eligible for federal loans

All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas Feb. 6, making all qualified farm operators in the designated counties eligible for low-interest emergency loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency, 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.

USDA also has made other programs available to assist farmers and ranchers, including the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program; 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.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack reminds producers that the department’s authority to operate the five disaster assistance programs authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill expired on Sept. 30, 2011. This includes SURE; the Livestock Indemnity Program; the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-Raised Fish; the Livestock Forage Disaster Program; and the Tree Assistance Program. Production losses in the counties listed above are covered because the event triggering the loss occurred prior to the expiration of these programs; however, production losses due to disasters occurring after Sept. 30, 2011, are not eligible for disaster program coverage.

— Information from USDA