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Farm Service Agency Public Affairs Staff 1400 Independence Ave SW Stop 0506, Room 3624-South Washington, D.C. 20250-0506
Release No. 1401.08
Latawnya Dia (202) 720-7962
Decision Allows Farmers and Ranchers to Apply for USDA Assistance
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2008 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture designated 30 Arkansas counties as primary natural disaster areas because of losses caused by extreme heat and severe drought that occurred from April 1, 2007, through Oct. 31, 2007. Those counties are:
Baxter | Cleburne | Jackson | Ouachita | Sharp |
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Boone | Craighead | Lawrence | Perry | St. Francis |
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Bradley | Faulkner | Lee | Poinsett | Stone |
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Calhoun | Fulton | Madison | Pulaski | Union |
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Carroll | Independence | Marion | Randolph | White |
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Clay | Izard | Newton | Searcy | Woodruff |
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Farm operators in the following Arkansas counties also qualify for natural disaster benefits because their counties are contiguous.
Ashley | Crawford | Garland | Mississippi | Prairie |
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Benton | Crittenden | Grant | Monroe | Saline |
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Clark | Cross | Greene | Nevada | Van Buren |
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Cleveland | Dallas | Jefferson | Phillips | Washington |
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Columbia | Drew | Johnson | Pope | Yell |
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Conway | Franklin | Lonoke |
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In addition, farm operators in counties in the adjacent states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri also qualify for natural disaster benefits because their counties are contiguous.
Claiborne, Morehouse and Union
Tunica
Barry, Butler, Dunklin, Howell, Oregon, Ozark, Ripley, Stone, and Taney
All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on Jan. 8, 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://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=diap&topic=landing.
FSA news releases and media advisories are available on FSA?s Web site at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov.
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