Disaster Declaration for the area

The Secretary of Agriculture designated 16 Missouri counties as primary agricultural natural disaster areas making certain farmers and other agricultural producers in the counties eligible for low-interest emergency loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), in addition to other disaster programs.

The following counties were designated as primary natural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by excessive rainfall and flooding which occurred July 15, 2013, thru August 19, 2013. 

Those counties are: Butler, Camden, Cole, Dunklin, Gasconade, Laclede, Maries, Miller, New Madrid, Osage, Pemiscot, Pulaski, Stoddard, Texas, Vernon, Webster. 

The contiguous counties are: Barton, Bates, Benton, Bollinger, Boone, Callaway, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Cedar, Christian, Crawford, Dallas, Dent, Douglas, Franklin, Greene, Hickory, Howell, Mississippi, Moniteau, Montgomery, Morgan, Phelps, Ripley, St. Clair, Scott, Shannon, Warren, Wayne, Wright.

All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on September 25, 2013, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency (EM) loans from USDA’s 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 loans to help cover part of their actual losses. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.Loans for physical losses must be used to replace or repair damage to buildings, fences or to compensate the farmer for losses of basic livestock, stored crops, or supplies on hand, equipment, etc., that was lost due to the disaster.   Loans for production losses may also be used to buy feed, seed, fertilizer, livestock or to make payments on real estate or chattel debts. Generally, loans for production losses cannot be approved until crops have completed their production cycle or have been harvested.

 In order to qualify, a farmer must have suffered a 30% loss in production or an actual physical loss that was essential to the successful operation of the farm. Barton, Bates, Cedar and Vernon County farmers interested in Emergency Loans may contact the Vernon County FSA office, Farm Loan Programs at (417) 667-8137; producers in other counties should contact their local county FSA office to determine the location of their Farm Loan Program staff; for SURE, ECP, Federal Crop Insurance, and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program, producers should contact their local county FSA office or visitwww.fsa.usda.gov.

Courtesy of FM. 92.1