Farm Service Agency

Public Affairs Staff

1400 Independence Ave SW

Stop 0506, Room 3624-South

Washington, D.C. 20250-0506

Release No. 1469.08

Decision Allows Farmers and Ranchers to Apply for USDA Assistance

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13, 2008 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture designated seven counties in California as primary natural disaster areas.

Kern County was designated as a primary natural disaster area because of losses caused by drought that occurred from Oct. 15, 2007, and continuing. Farm operators in Inyo, Kings, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura counties also qualify for natural disaster benefits because their counties are contiguous.

Kings County was designated as a primary natural disaster area because of losses caused by drought that occurred from Oct. 1, 2007, and continuing. Farm operators in Fresno, Kern, Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Tulare counties also qualify for natural disaster benefits because their counties are contiguous.

Mariposa County was designated as a primary natural disaster area because of losses caused by drought that occurred from Jan. 1, 2008, and continuing. Farm operators in Madera, Merced, Stanislaus and Tuolumne counties also qualify for natural disaster benefits because their counties are contiguous.

Merced County was designated as a primary natural disaster area because of losses caused by drought that occurred from Oct. 15, 2007, through April 30, 2008. Farm operators in Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, San Benito, Santa Clara, Stanislaus and Tuolumne counties also qualify for natural disaster benefits because their counties are contiguous.

Santa Clara County was designated as a primary natural disaster area because of losses caused by drought that occurred from March 1, 2008, and continuing. Farm operators in Alameda, Merced, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Cruz and Stanislaus counties also qualify for natural disaster benefits because their counties are contiguous.

Sutter County was designated as a primary natural disaster area because of losses caused by drought that occurred from March 1, 2008, through April 30, 2008. Farm operators in Butte, Colusa, Placer, Sacramento, Yolo and Yuba counties also qualify for natural disaster benefits because their counties are contiguous.

Yolo County was designated as a primary natural disaster area because of losses caused by freezing temperatures that occurred from April 20, 2008. Farm operators in Colusa, Lake, Napa, Sacramento, Solano and Sutter counties also qualify for natural disaster benefits because their county is contiguous.

All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on Aug. 11, 2008, 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. FSA has a variety of programs, in addition to the EM loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity.

USDA has also made other programs available to assist farmers and ranchers, including the Emergency Conservation Program, Federal Crop Insurance and the Noninsured Crop Disaster 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 Web site at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov via the "News and Events" link.

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