USDA Designates 83 Counties in Georgia as Primary Natural Disaster Areas with Assistance to Producers in Surrounding States

Dan Georgia, Industry News Release

usdaThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 83 counties in Georgia as primary natural disaster areas due to losses and damages caused by Hurricane Irma that occurred from Sept. 10 through Sept. 12, 2017. Those counties are:

Appling Crisp Lee Stewart
Atkinson Decatur Liberty Sumter
Bacon Dodge Long Tattnall
Baker Dooly Lowndes Taylor
Ben Hill Echols McIntosh Telfair
Berrien Effingham Macon Terrell
Bibb Emanuel Marion Thomas
Bleckley Evans Miller Tift
Brantley Glascock Mitchell Toombs
Brooks Glynn Monroe Treutlen
Burke Grady Montgomery Turner
Butts Hancock Peach Twiggs
Camden Houston Pierce Upson
Candler Irwin Pike Ware
Charlton Jasper Pulaski Washington
Clay Jeff Davis Putnam Wayne
Clinch Jefferson Randolph Webster
Coffee Jenkins Schley Wheeler
Colquitt Johnson Screven Wilcox
Cook Lamar Seminole Worth
Crawford Lanier Spalding

Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Georgia also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:

Baldwin Coweta Jones Quitman
Bryan Dougherty Laurens Richmond
Bulloch Early McDuffie Talbot
Calhoun Fayette Meriwether Taliaferro
Chatham Greene Morgan Warren
Chattahoochee Henry Newton Wilkinson
Clayton

Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Alabama, Florida and South Carolina also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:

Alabama
Barbour, Henry, Houston and Russell

Florida
Baker, Columbia, Gadsden, Hamilton, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Madison and Nassau

South Carolina
Aiken, Allendale, Barnwell, Hampton and Jasper

All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on Nov. 13, 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.