WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2013 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 79 counties as primary natural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by excessive rain that began April 1, 2013, and continuing.
Those counties are:
Appling Clinch Grady Macon
Atkinson Coffee Greene Madison
Bacon Colquitt Gwinnett Miller
Baker Cook Hancock Mitchell
Baldwin Crawford Hart Montgomery
Banks Crisp Irwin Morgan
Barrow Decatur Jackson Newton
Ben Hill De Kalb Jasper Oconee
Berrien Echols Jeff Davis Oglethorpe
Bleckley Effingham Jefferson Peach
Brantley Elbert Jenkins Pierce
Brooks Emanuel Johnson Putnam
Bryan Fannin Jones Rockdale
Burke Franklin Lanier Screven
Chatham Gilmer Laurens Seminole
Clarke Glascock Lowndes Taylor
Telfair Thomas Tift Towns
Treutlen Turner Twiggs Union
Walton Ware Washington Wayne
Wheeler Wilcox Wilkinson
“Our hearts go out to those Georgia farmers and ranchers affected by recent natural disasters,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “President Obama and I are committed to ensuring that agriculture remains a bright spot in our nation’s economy by sustaining the successes of America’s farmers, ranchers and rural communities through these difficult times. We’re also telling Georgia producers that USDA stands with you and your communities when severe weather and natural disasters threaten to disrupt your livelihood.”
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Georgia also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:
Bibb Dooly Henry Monroe
Bulloch Dougherty Houston Murray
Butts Early Lee Pickens
Calhoun Evans Liberty Pulaski
Camden Forsyth Lincoln Rabun
Candler Fulton Long Richmond
Charlton Glynn Lumpkin Schley
Clayton Gordon McDuffie Stephens
Dawson Habersham McIntosh Sumter
Dodge Hall Marion
Talbot Taliaferro Tattnall Toombs
Upson Warren White Wilkes
Worth
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:
Alabama
Houston
Florida
Baker Gadsden Jackson Leon
Columbia Hamilton Jefferson Madison
North Carolina
Cherokee and Clay
South Carolina
Abbeville Anderson Jasper
Aiken Barnwell McCormick
Allendale Hampton Oconee
Tennessee
Polk
All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas Sept. 25, 2013, 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.
Additional programs available to assist farmers and ranchers include 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 Congress has not funded the five disaster assistance programs authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill. These are 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.