Has your area been declared by the President or designated by the Secretary of Agriculture as a disaster or quarantine area?

If so, do you own or operate a farm or ranch in the primary or an adjoining county?

If you can answer “yes” to both of these questions, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) offers emergency loans (PDF, 79 KB) that may help you.

Emergency loan funds may be used to:

• Restore or replace essential property;
• Pay all or part of production costs in the disaster year;
• Pay essential family living expenses;
• Reorganize the farming operation;
• Refinance certain debts, excluding real estate.

You may borrow up to 100 percent of your total actual production or physical losses. Production losses must exceed 30 percent. The maximum loan amount is $500,000.

You may get an emergency loan if you’re a farmer or rancher who:

• Owns or operates land in a county declared by the President or designated by the Secretary of Agriculture as a primary disaster or quarantine area.

  All adjoining counties also qualify. A disaster designation by the FSA administrator authorizes emergency loan assistance for physical losses only in the named and adjoining counties.

• Is an established family farm operator and has sufficient farming or ranching experience;
• Is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident;
• Has at least a 30 percent loss in crop production or a physical loss to livestock, livestock products, real estate, or chattel property;
• Has an acceptable credit history;
• Is not able to get credit from commercial sources;
• Can provide collateral to secure the loan; and
• Has repayment ability.

To apply for an emergency loan, you must submit application form FSA-2001, Request for Direct Loan Assistance and all required documentation to your local USDA Service Center or FSA County Office.