USDA declares natural disaster areas

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 16 counties as primary natural disaster areas, allowing the department’s Farm Service Agency to issue emergency loans to eligible growers.
Those who suffered losses due to five separate disaster weather events may be eligible for the loans, which may be used to replace livestock, reorganize a farming operation or refinance certain debts.
Growers whose fields were hit by excessive precipitation, flooding and ponding between March 1 and June 6 are eligible to apply for the loans. Eligible Ohio counties are Fulton, Henry, Lucas, Ottawa, Defiance, Hancock, Putnam and Williams. Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties in Michigan are also eligible.
The deadline to apply is March 9, 2020.
Growers in Williams, Defiance, Fulton and Henry counties in Ohio who lost production due to excessive rain and flooding between April 1 and July 7 are eligible to apply as are growers in DeKalb and Steuben counties in Indiana and Hillsdale County in Michigan.
The application deadline is April 1, 2020.
Marion, Crawford, Delaware, Hardin, Morrow, Union and Wyandot counties that suffered excessive rain and flooding between April 8 and July 5 are also eligible.
The application deadline is also April 1, 2020.
Fields hit by excessive rain and flooding between April 1 and July 3 in Erie, Huron, Ottawa, Sandusky, Van Wert, Allen, Ashland, Auglaize, Crawford, Lorain, Lucas, Mercer, Paulding, Putnam, Richland, Seneca and Wood counties and Adams and Allen counties in Indiana are also eligible.
The application deadline is April 2.
Excessive rain and flooding between Sept. 1, 2018 and July 3, 2019 make the Ohio counties of Allen, Brown, Clermont, Crawford, Hancock, Morrow, Adams, Auglaize, Clinton, Delaware, Hamilton, Hardin, Henry, Highland, Huron, Knox, Marion, Putnam, Richland, Seneca, Van Wert, Warren, Wood and Wyandot and the Kentucky counties of Bracken, Campbell, Mason and Pendleton eligible.
The application deadline is April 2.
The FSA will review the applications.
The agency has other programs to help farmers recover from the disaster, including some that don’t require a disaster declaration: 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 more information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs. Additional information is also available online at farmers.gov/recover.