NEWS
Farm Service Agency
Public Affairs Staff
1400 Independence Ave SW
Stop 0506, Room 3624-South
Washington, D.C. 20250-0506


					Release No. 1486.06

		             Stevin Westcott (202) 720-4178

USDA DESIGNATES COUNTIES IN SOUTH DAKOTA AS NATURAL 
DISASTER AREAS
Decision Allows Farmers and Ranchers to Apply for USDA 
Assistance

      WASHINGTON, July 31, 2006 � The U.S. Department of 
Agriculture designated counties in South Dakota as primary 
natural disaster areas, making all qualified farm 
operators in the designated areas eligible for low-
interest emergency (EM) loans from USDA�s Farm Service 
Agency (FSA).
      
      Turner County was designated a primary natural 
disaster area due to losses caused by high winds, heavy 
rain and hail that occurred on June 16, 2006, and 
continuing.  Also eligible because they are contiguous are 
Clay, Hutchinson, Lincoln, McCook, Minnehaha and Yankton 
Counties.
      
      The following 23 counties were also designated as 
primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by the 
combined effects of a late spring killing frost, extreme 
heat, high winds, hail, insect damage, insufficient 
subsoil moisture and ongoing drought that occurred from 
Jan. 1, 2006, and continuing.  Those counties are:
      
      Brule	Edmunds		Jerauld	
      Buffalo	Fall River	Jones	
      Campbell	Faulk		Lyman	
      Corson	Hughes		Meade	
      Custer	Hyde		Pennington	
      Dewey	Jackson		Perkins
      
      
      Potter
      Stanley
      Sully
      Walworth
      Ziebach
      
      Also eligible because they are contiguous are the 
following counties:
      
      Aurora		Gregory		Mellette
      Beadle		Hand		Shannon
      Brown		Harding		Spink
      Butte		Lawrence	Todd
      Charles Mix	McPherson	Tripp

      The following counties in the adjacent states of 
Nebraska, North Dakota and Wyoming are also eligible 
because they are contiguous:
      
       Nebraska
       Dawes and Sioux Counties
      
       North Dakota
       Adams, Emmons, McIntosh and Sioux Counties
      
       Wyoming
       Niobrara and Weston Counties
      
      All counties listed above were designated natural 
disaster areas on July 27, 2006, making all qualified farm 
operators in the designated areas eligible for 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 emergency 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 and media advisories are available 
on FSA�s Web site at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/.
      
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