The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 49 counties in Ohio as a primary natural disaster areas
due to losses caused by the combined effects of excessive rain, flooding, flash flooding, high winds,
excessive heat and tornadoes that occurred Feb. 2 – July 31.
Though Wood County is not on the primary list of those 49 counties, Sandusky, Seneca, Ottawa and Lucas
counties are on the list. As a contiguous county to any one of the 49, named counties, farmers and
ranchers in those counties, including Wood also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their
counties are contiguous.
"Ohio producers can continue to count on USDA to provide emergency assistance during these difficult
times," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "President Obama and I are committed to
reducing the impact of this disaster for Ohio producers and we will commit all available resources to
help in the recovery."
All those counties, plus several contiguous counties in neighboring states are thus designated natural
disaster areas on Sept. 7, 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. FSA has a variety of programs, in addition to the 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, 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.
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On the Net:
Additional information is also available online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.
FSA news releases are available on FSA’s website at www.fsa.usda.gov via the "News and Events"
link.
