In response to a request from Brian Haugen, Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) acting State Executive Director in North Dakota, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 25 counties in North Dakota as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by multiple disasters that occurred in the 2016 crop year.
Disaster Number 1: USDA has designated Adams, Billings, Emmons, Golden Valley, Grant, Sioux, Slope and Stark counties in North Dakota as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by drought that occurred from April 1, 2016, through Oct. 1, 2016.
Farmers and ranchers in Bowman, Burleigh, Dunn, Hettinger, Kidder, Logan, McIntosh, McKenzie, Mercer and Morton counties in North Dakota also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous.
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Montana and South Dakota also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:
Montana
Fallon and Wibaux
South Dakota
Campbell, Corson, Harding and Perkins
Disaster Number 2: USDA has designated 15 counties in North Dakota as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by excessive rain, high winds, tornados and hail that occurred from Jan. 1, 2016, through Nov. 15, 2016. Those counties are:
Benson, McIntosh, Steele, Burke, McKenzie, Towner, Cavalier, Pembina, Traill, Divide, Ramsey, Walsh, Grand Forks, Rolette and Ward
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in North Dakota also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:
Barnes, Dunn, LaMoure, Nelson, Billings, Eddy, Logan, Pierce, Bottineau, Emmons, McHenry, Renville, Cass, Golden Valley, McLean, Wells, Dickey, Griggs, Mountrail and Williams
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Minnesota, Montana and South Dakota also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:
Minnesota
Kittson, Marshall, Norman and Polk
Montana
Richland, Roosevelt, Sheridan and Wibaux
South Dakota
Campbell and McPherson
Disaster Number 3: USDA has designated Hettinger and Oliver counties in North Dakota as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by frost and freeze followed by excessive heat that occurred from March 15, 2016, through June 15, 2016.
Farmers and ranchers in Adams, Burleigh, Grant, McLean, Mercer, Morton, Slope and Stark counties in North Dakota also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous.
All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on Feb. 15, 2017, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for FSA’s low emergency (EM) loans, 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. FSA has a variety of programs, in addition to the EM loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity.
Other FSA programs that can provide assistance, but do not require a disaster declaration, include Operating and Farm Ownership Loans; the Emergency Conservation Program; Livestock Forage Disaster Program; Livestock Indemnity Program; Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program; and the Tree Assistance Program. Interested farmers may contact their local USDA service centers for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs. Additional information is also available online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.
FSA news releases are available on FSA’s website at http://www.fsa.usda.gov via the “Newsroom” link.
Reader Comments(0)