Vernon County farmers may be eligible for disaster aid

Nevada Daily Mail

The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture designated Kansas counties as primary agricultural natural disaster areas making certain farmers and other agricultural producers in the counties eligible for low-interest emergency loans from USDA's Farm Service Agency, in addition to other disaster programs.

Twelve Missouri counties were designated as contiguous natural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by drought which began Nov. 15, 2012, and is ongoing.

Producers in contiguous counties may also be eligible for programs based on this designation. The contiguous counties are: Andrew, Barton, Bates, Buchanan, Cass, Clay, Holt, Jackson, Jasper, Newton, Platte and Vernon.

All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on January 16, 2013, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency loans from USDA's Farm Service Agency, 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.

Loans for physical losses must be used to replace or repair damage to buildings, fences or to compensate the farmer for losses of basic livestock, stored crops, or supplies on hand, equipment, etc., that was lost due to the disaster. Loans for production losses may also be used to buy feed, seed, fertilizer, livestock or to make payments on real estate or chattel debts. Generally, loans for production losses cannot be approved until crops have completed their production cycle or have been harvested.

In order to qualify, a farmer must have suffered a 30 percent loss in production or an actual physical loss that was essential to the successful operation of the farm.

USDA also has made a variety of other programs available to assist farmers in recovering from the disaster, including the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program, 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.

Farmers in Barton, Bates, Jasper and Vernon counties interested in emergency loans may contact the Vernon County FSA office, Farm Loan Programs at (417) 667-8137; producers in other counties should contact their local county FSA office to determine the location of their Farm Loan Program staff; for SURE, ECP, Federal Crop Insurance, and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program, producers should contact their local county FSA office or visit www.fsa.usda.gov.