The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 11 parishes in Louisiana as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by severe storms and flooding that occurred from Aug. 11, 2016, through Aug. 31, 2016. Farmers and ranchers in Jefferson and Orange counties in Texas also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. These counties were designated natural disaster areas on Sep. 22, 2016, 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.
Other FSA programs that can provide assistance, but do not require a disaster declaration, include 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.
FSA news releases are available on FSA’s website at www.fsa.usda.gov via the “Newsroom” link.
Source: USDA Farm Service Agency