USDA Designates More Ag Disaster Counties

WASHINGTON - Sep 12/05 - SNS -- The USDA designated several counties in Kansas, California, Minnesota, Oregon, Texas and Virginia as primary agricultural disaster areas.

In Kansas, the following counties were designated as primary disaster areas on Aug. 25, 2005, due to losses caused by severe storms including hail, high winds, lightening, excessive rain, flash flooding and flooding that occurred from June 3, 2005, to June 16, 2005.

Butler   Ford      Gove      Grant     Meade
Sedgwick Trego     Wabaunsee

Counties eligible because they are contiguous to those listed above include:

Chase          Clark      Cowley     Edwards      Elk
Ellis          Finney     Geary      Graham       Gray
Greenwood      Hamilton   Harvey     Haskell      Hodgeman
Kearny         Kingman    Kiowa      Lane         Logan
Lyon           Marion     Morris     Ness         Osage
Pottawatomie   Reno       Riley      Rooks        Scott
Seward         Shawnee    Sheridan   Stanton      Stevens
Sumner         Thomas

In California, Sutter County was designated as a primary disaster area on Aug. 25, 2005, due to losses caused by unseasonable rain that occurred from March 8, 2005, to March 19, 2005.

Counties eligible because they are contiguous to those listed above include:

         Butte               Placer          Yolo
         Colusa               Sacramento     Yuba

In Minnesota, the following counties were designated as primary disaster areas on Aug. 25, 2005, due to losses caused by severe storms including excessive rainfall, hail and high winds that occurred May 7, 2005, and continuing.

Aitkin       Beltrami      Benton          Clearwater     Dakota
Grant        Itasca        Kittson         Koochiching    Lake of the Woods
Marshall     Mille Lacs    Pennington      Roseau         Traverse
Washington   Wilkin

Counties eligible because they are contiguous to those listed above include:

Anoka        Crow Wing    Mahnomen       Red Lake
Becker       Douglas      Morrison       Rice
Big Stone    Goodhue      Otter Tail     Sherburne
Carlton      Hennepin     Pine           St. Louis
Cass         Hubbard      Polk           Stearns
Chisago      Isanti       Pope           Stevens
Clay         Kanabec      Ramsey

In Oregon, Polk and Yamhill Counties were designated as primary disaster areas on Aug. 31, 2005, due to losses caused by heavy winds, rains and cool temperatures that occurred from March 27, 2005, through April 30, 2005.

Also eligible because they are contiguous include:

Benton          Lincoln          Marion           Washington
Clackamas     Linn          Tillamook

In Texas, Wilbarger County was designated as a primary disaster area on Aug. 31, 2005, due to losses caused by drought, high winds and excessive temperatures that occurred from March 1, 2005, through July 5, 2005.

Also eligible because they are contiguous include:

     Archer          Baylor          Foard
     Hardeman     Wichita

In Virginia, Fauquier County was designated as a primary disaster area on Aug. 31, 2005, due to losses caused by drought and high temperatures that occurred from April 1, 2005, through June 30, 2005.

Also eligible because they are contiguous include:

Clarke         Loudoun            Rappahannock          Warren
Culpeper       Prince William     Stafford