Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue designated 38 Missouri counties as primary natural disaster areas. Producers who suffered losses due to a recent drought may be eligible for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loans.
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 replacing essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganizing a farming operation or refinance certain debts.
Drought Designation #3 inclides
Producers in Benton, Butler, Camden, Carter, Crawford, Dent, Douglas, Dunklin, Franklin, Gasconade, Henry, Howell, Iron, Jefferson, Lincoln, Madison, Maries, New Madrid, Oregon, Ozark, Pemiscot, Phelps, Pulaski, Reynolds, Ripley, St. Charles, St. Louis, Shannon, Stoddard, Taney, Texas, Warren, Wayne, Webster and Wright in Missouri, who suffered losses due to drought, may be eligible for emergency loans.
Producers in the contiguous counties of Bates, Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Cass, Christian, Dallas, Greene, Hickory, Johnson, Laclede, Miller, Mississippi, Montgomery, Morgan, Osage, Perry, Pettis, Pike, St. Clair, Ste. Genevieve, St. Francois, Scott, Stone, Washington and the city of St. Louis in Missouri, along with Baxter, Boone, Carroll, Clay, Craighead, Fulton, Greene, Marion, Mississippi, Randolph and Sharp counties in Arkansas, Calhoun, Jersey, Madison, Monroe and St. Clair counties in Illinois, Fulton County in Kentucky and Dyer and Lake counties in Tennessee, are also eligible to apply for emergency loans.
The deadline to apply for these emergency loans is June 17, 2019.
FSA will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.
FSA has a variety of addition programs to help farmers recover from the impacts of this disaster. FSA programs that 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.
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.