USDA Designates More Disaster Areas

WASHINGTON - Jun 25/04 - SNS -- The USDA designated counties in Hawaii, Nebraska and Texas as primary agricultural disaster areas.

In Hawaii, the counties of Hawaii, Honolulu and Maui are designated as primary disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by winds, rain and flooding that occurred from Dec. 7, 2003, through March 26, 2004. Also eligible because it is contiguous is Kalawao County.

In Nebraska, the following counties are designated as primary disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by severe drought that occurred from Jan. 1, 2004, and continuing:

Arthur      Dundy       Keith       Perkins
Banner      Frontier    Kimball     Red Willow
Chase       Garden      Lincoln     Scotts Bluff
Cheyenne    Hayes       McPherson   Sioux
Deuel       Hitchcock   Morrill

Also eligible because they are contiguous are the following Nebraska counties:

Box Butte   Dawson      Grant       Sheridan
Custer      Furnas      Hooker      Thomas
Dawes       Gosper      Logan

In Texas, Robertson County is designated as a primary disaster area due to damages and losses caused by hail and winds that occurred on April 10, 2004. Also eligible because they are contiguous are the following Texas counties:

Brazos      Falls       Limestone   Milam
Burleson    Leon        Madison

These counties were designated on June 21, 2004, making all qualified farm operators eligible for low-interest emergency (EM) loans from the Farm Service Agency (FSA), 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.