Emergency Support to Producers in Surrounding Counties/Border States Also Available
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue designated 76 Georgia counties as primary natural disaster areas. Producers who suffered losses due to Hurricane Michael that occurred Oct. 9 through Oct. 11, 2018, may be eligible for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loans.
The counties in the primary damaged area are Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Ben Hill Berrien, Bibb, Bleckley, Brantley, Brooks, Bulloch, Burke, Calhoun, Candler, Charlton, Clay, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Cook, Crawford, Crisp, Decatur, Dodge, Dooly, Dougherty, Early, Echols, Emanuel, Evans, Glascock, Grady, Hancock, Houston, Irwin, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Lanier, Laurens, Lee, Long, Lowndes, Macon, Miller, Mitchell, Montgomery, Peach, Pierce, Pulaski, Quitman, Randolph, Schley, Screven, Seminole, Stewart, Sumter, Tattnall, Taylor, Telfair, Terrell, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Treutlen, Turner, Twiggs, Ware, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wheeler, Wilcox, Wilkinson and Worth in Georgia.
This designation by Secretary Perdue allows FSA to extend much-needed emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation or the refinance of certain debts.
Producers in the contiguous Georgia counties of Baldwin, Bryan, Camden, Chattahoochee, Effingham, Glynn, Greene, Jones, Liberty, McDuffie, McIntosh, Marion, Monroe, Putnam, Richmond, Talbot, Taliaferro, Upson and Warren, along with Barbour, Henry, Houston and Russell counties in Alabama; Baker, Columbia, Gadsden, Hamilton, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Madison and Nassau counties in Florida and Aiken, Allendale, Barnwell and Hampton counties in South Carolina, are also eligible to apply for emergency loans.
The deadline to apply for these emergency loans is Aug. 12, 2019.
FSA will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.
FSA has a variety of additional programs to help farmers recover from the impacts of this disaster. FSA programs that do not require a disaster declaration include: Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program; Emergency Conservation Program; Livestock Forage Disaster Program; Livestock Indemnity Program; Operating and Farm Ownership Loans; and the Tree Assistance Program.
Farmers may contact their local USDA service center for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs. Additional information is also available online at https://www.farmers.gov/recover.
Source: USDA/Farm Service Agency