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FRANKFORT, Ky. — Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer praised the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to designate 109 Kentucky counties as primary natural disaster areas due to this year’s drought.
“The designation makes all farm operators in those counties eligible for low-interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency,” Commissioner Farmer said. “This will be a welcome relief to Kentucky farmers who lost income because of this summer’s hot, dry conditions. I am grateful to USDA for this action.”
Another 11 counties – Breathitt, Christian, Clay, Fulton, Harlan, Henderson, Hickman, Knox, Laurel, McLean and Trigg – are eligible because they are contiguous to designated counties.
Kentucky was in drought status for most of this past summer. The East region continues to be in severe drought, and the Bluegrass is in moderate drought as measured by the Palmer Drought Severity Index. Central Kentucky is in mild drought, and the West region is near normal.
Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for the 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 available, 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 available online at: http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.
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