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Escambia, Santa Rosa Declared Disaster Areas
January 31, 2010
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated Escambia (Fla.) and Santa Rosa counties as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by Tropical Storm Ida and associated heavy rains that occurred from November 9 through November 10, 2009.
“President Obama and I understand these conditions caused severe damage to the area and serious harm to farms in Florida and we want to help,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This action will provide help to hundreds of farmers who suffered significant production losses to a wide variety of crops, including upland cotton, forage grasses, pecans, peanuts, and soybeans.”
Farmers and ranchers in Okaloosa County in Florida and Baldwin and Escambia in Alabama also qualify for natural disaster assistance because the counties are contiguous.
All qualified farm operators in the designated areas are 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 also has made other programs available to assist farmers and ranchers, including the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE), which was approved as part of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008; 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 disaster.fsa.usda.gov.
Pictured top: Wet cotton sags to the ground in a Walnut Hill field on November 10, 2009, as the rains ended from Tropical Storm Ida. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Comments
5 Responses to “Escambia, Santa Rosa Declared Disaster Areas”
rebel
I can’t understand why anyone would want to be president, but Willie Nelson would at least acknowlege the farmer.
Amen, to the recognition of the tainted food sources from abroad. Farmers are critical to americas health. I wish I could personally help everyone locally who had loses, but I too had loses and i am in a bad way myself.
Willie Nelson for president!!!!!! Can I get a second motion?
observer,
While farmers have been a large portion of the countries back bone for a very long time. If the current administration even blinks an eye at the farmers it will surprise me. They are not banks, or auto dealers. They just want to feed americas tainted food products from china.
it seems that with all the recent federal bail-outs, these farmers should not have to take out loans. what about all the government money for everything else? these farmers and their families should not have to take out loans to cover loses. the writting is on the wall how this administration will treat family farms and private farms!