USDA Designates Ag Disaster Counties

WASHINGTON - Mar 11/05 - SNS -- The USDA designated counties in Tennessee, Montana and New York as primary agricultural disaster areas.

In Tennessee, Wayne and Lawrence Counties were designated as primary disaster areas due to losses caused by storms with heavy rains, lightning, winds, tornadoes and flooding that occurred from Oct. 18, 2004, through Oct. 19, 2004.

Also eligible because they are contiguous are Decatur, Giles, Hardin, Lewis, Maury, and Perry Counties.

In Montana, Garfield County was designated as a primary disaster area due to losses caused by drought that occurred from Jan. 1, 2004, and continuing.

In New York, 22 counties were designated as primary disaster areas due to losses caused by excessive rain, flooding, flash flooding, hail, high winds and frost that occurred on various dates from April 1, 2004, through the end of the 2004 crop year. Those counties are:

Broome     Cortland    Greene       Orange    Scheneetady   Ulster
Chemung    Delaware    Livingston   Orleans   Schoharie     Westchester
Chenango   Dutchess    Niagara      Oswego    Sullivan      Sullivan
Columbia   Genesee     Onondaga     Putnam    Putnam	    Tioga

Also eligible because they are contiguous are:

Albany      Erie         Monroe       Otsego      Schuyler
Allegany    Jefferson    Montgomery   Rensselaer  Steuben
Bronx       Lewis        Oneida       Rockland    Tompkins
Cayuga	    Madison      Ontario      Saratoga    Wyoming