The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that Lincoln County farmers qualify for natural disaster assistance because of drought.
Twelve counties in Arizona have been designated as primary natural disaster areas due to losses and damages. Farmers and ranchers in the contiguous counties in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah also qualify for natural disaster assistance. Two Nevada counties, Lincoln and Clark, are also included.
Qualified farm operators in the designated areas are eligible for the Farm Service Agency’s (FSA’s) emergency (EM) loans, provided eligibility requirements are met. As of March 8, 2018, Farmers in eligible counties have eight months 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 the impacts of this disaster.
Other FSA programs that can provide assistance, but do not require a disaster declaration, include: Operating and Farm Ownership Loans; the Emergency Conservation Program; Livestock Forage Disaster Program; Livestock Indemnity Program; Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program; and the Tree 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 http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.
