With Assistance to Producers in the Surrounding States
In response to a request from Jacqueline McCloud, Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) Acting State Executive Director in Alabama, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 11 counties in Alabama as primary natural disaster areas due to losses and damages caused by excessive rainfall and flash flooding that occurred from May 1, 2017, through June 30, 2017. Those counties are:
| Baldwin | Conecuh | Marengo | Talladega |
| Cherokee | Escambia | Mobile | Washington |
| Clarke | Hale | Monroe |
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Alabama also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:
| Bibb | Coosa | Perry |
| Butler | Covington | St. Clair |
| Calhoun | Dallas | Shelby |
| Choctaw | DeKalb | Sumter |
| Clay | Etowah | Tuscaloosa |
| Cleburne | Greene | Wilcox |
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:
Florida
Escambia, Okaloosa and Santa Rosa
Georgia
Chattooga, Greene. Jackson and Wayne
Mississippi
George, Greene, Jackson, and Wayne
All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on Aug. 14, 2017, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for FSA’s emergency (EM) loans, 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.
Other FSA programs that can provide assistance, but do not require a disaster declaration, include Operating and Farm Ownership Loans; the Emergency Conservation Program; Livestock Forage Disaster Program; Livestock Indemnity Program; Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program; and the Tree 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.
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