USDA Designates Ag Disaster Counties

WASHINGTON - Jan 18/06 - SNS -- The USDA designated counties in Kansas, New York, South Dakota and Texas as primary natural disaster areas, making all qualified farm operators eligible for low-interest emergency (EM) loans from USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA).

In Kansas, seven counties were was designated as primary disaster areas due to losses caused by excessive rain, flash flooding and flooding that occurred from June 3, 2005, through June 13, 2005. Those counties are Cheyenne, Edwards, Harper, Haskell, Linn, Rush and Stanton Counties.

Also eligible because they are contiguous and have sustained production losses due to the same disaster conditions are the following counties:

Allen          Franklin       Meade          Sherman
Anderson       Grant          Miami          Stafford
Barber         Gray           Morton         Stevens
Barton         Hamilton       Ness           Sumner
Bourbon        Hodgeman       Pawnee         Seward
Ellis          Kearny         Pratt
Finney         Kingman        Rawlins
Ford           Kiowa          Russell

In New York, 11 counties were designated as primary disaster areas.

Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Madison, Montgomery, Ontario, Orange, Rensselaer, Suffolk and Sullivan Counties were designated as primary disaster areas due to losses caused by drought and high temperatures that occurred on May 1, 2005, and continuing.

Also eligible because they are contiguous and have sustained production losses due to the same disaster conditions are the following counties:

Albany         Essex          Nassau         Rockland       Steuben
Chenango       Franklin       Oneida         Saratoga       Ulster
Columbia       Greene         Onondaga       Schenectady    Warren
Cortland       Lewis          Oswego         Schoharie      Washington
Delaware       Livingston     Otsego         Seneca         Wayne
Dutchess       Monroe         Putnam         St. Lawrence   Yates

Columbia and Ontario were designated as primary disaster areas due to losses caused by excessive rain, hail and flash flooding that occurred on June 9, 2005, through June 27, 2005.

Also eligible because they are contiguous and have sustained production losses due to the same disaster conditions are Albany, Dutchess, Greene, Livingston, Monroe, Rensselaer, Seneca, Steuben, Ulster, Wayne and Yates Counties.

In South Dakota, 14 counties were designated as primary disaster areas due to losses caused by late spring frosts, extreme heat, high winds, hail, and prairie fires that occurred from Jan. 1, 2005, and continuing. Those counties are Aurora, Bon Homme, Butte, Charles Mix, Douglas, Harding, Hughes, Hutchinson, Hyde, Perkins, Potter, Stanley, Sully, and Yankton Counties.

Also eligible because they are contiguous and have sustained production losses due to the same disaster conditions are the following counties:

Brule          Edmunds        Jerauld        Sanborn        Steuben
Buffalo        Faulk          Jones          Turner         Ulster
Clay           Gregory        Lawrence       Walworth       Warren
Corson         Haakon         Lyman          Ziebach        Washington
Davison        Hand           McCook                        Wayne
Dewey          Hanson         Meade                         Yates

In Texas, four counties were designated as primary disaster areas.

Haskell County was designated as a primary disaster area due to losses caused by excessive rain and flash flooding that occurred on Aug. 9, 2005, and continuing.

Also eligible because they are contiguous and have sustained production losses due to the same disaster conditions are Baylor, Jones, King, Knox, Shackelford, Stonewall and Throckmorton Counties.

Cooke County was designated as a primary disaster area due to losses caused by drought and excessive temperatures that occurred from Mar. 1, 2005, and continuing.

Also eligible because they are contiguous and have sustained production losses due to the same disaster conditions are Denton, Grayson, Montague and Wise Counties.

Falls County was designated as a primary disaster area due to losses caused by drought that occurred from Feb. 1, 2005, through Oct. 21, 2005.

Also eligible because they are contiguous and have sustained production losses due to the same disaster conditions are Bell, Limestone, McLennan, Milam and Robertson Counties.

McLennan County was designated as a primary disaster area due to losses caused by drought that occurred from Mar. 1, 2005, and continuing.

Also eligible because they are contiguous and have sustained production losses due to the same disaster conditions are Bell, Bosque, Coryell, Falls, Hill and Limestone Counties.

All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on Dec. 21, 2005, making all qualified farm operators eligible for EM loans, provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for the loans to help cover part of their actual losses.