WASHINGTON, July 12, 2012 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 13 counties in Georgia as primary natural disaster areas in two separate designations due to frost, freeze, hail and high winds that occurred in April and May 2012.
“Assistance at this point and time is critically important for producers in Georgia, especially in helping them keep their farmland healthy for the remainder of the year,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “President Obama and I realize that during this time of disaster, federal assistance will be needed until conditions improve and farmers strive to recover from their losses.”
The first designation names the following counties as primary natural disaster areas due to losses and damages caused by a frost and freeze that occurred April 12-13, 2012.
The counties are:
Fannin Habersham Rabun Union
Gilmer Lumpkin Towns White
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Georgia also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:
Banks Gordon Murray Stephens
Dawson Hall Pickens
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous:
North Carolina
Cherokee Clay Jackson Macon
South Carolina
Oconee
Tennessee
Polk
The second designation names the following Georgia counties as primary natural disaster areas due to losses and damages caused by a hail and high winds that occurred May 22, 2012.
The counties are:
Atkinson Berrien Cook Lanier Tift
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Georgia also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:
Brooks Coffee Echols Lowndes Ware
Clinch Colquitt Irwin Turner Worth
All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas July 11, 2012, 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 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.
Secretary Vilsack also 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 (LIP); the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-Raised Fish (ELAP); the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP); and the Tree Assistance Program (TAP). Production losses due to disasters occurring after Sept. 30, 2011, are not eligible for disaster program coverage.