Snyder: USDA Designates 45 Counties as Natural Disaster Areas; Opens Access for Federal Loan Program

Contact: Jennifer Holton 517-241-2485

Lansing - Governor Rick Snyder today announced that U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack has designated 45 counties in Michigan as natural disaster areas for three separate disaster conditions which occurred in February and May 2011.
           
"Our farmers and producers experienced multiple severe weather conditions causing crop losses," said Snyder. "This disaster designation ensures our farmers and producers have access to additional federal resources to overcome Mother Nature's challenges and remain viable producers of food for both national and international markets."

The counties designated by USDA as natural disaster areas on January 27, 2012, means that qualified farm operators 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.

The following 29 counties were designated primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by the combined effects of excessive rain, high winds, hail, freeze, frost, blizzard, tornadoes, flooding and lightning that occurred from Feb. 1, 2011, and continues. Those counties are:

Dickinson, Iron, Luce, Mackinac, Menominee and Montcalm counties in Michigan were designated as primary natural disaster areas because of losses caused by drought and excessive heat that occurred from May 15, 2011, and continues.

Farmers in the following counties in Michigan also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:
 

Alger, Antrim, Delta, Kalkaska, Leelanau, Marquette, Otsego, Schoolcraft, Washtenaw and Wayne counties in Michigan were designated as primary natural disaster areas because of losses caused by the combined effects of excessive rain, high winds, hail, freeze, frost, blizzard, tornadoes, flooding, lightning, drought and excessive heat that occurred from Feb. 1, 2011, and continues.

Farmers in the following counties also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:

In order for Michigan to receive federal disaster status, the original crop loss estimates must be verified from harvest yield data.  If losses of 30 percent or more are confirmed, and the disaster request is granted, eligible state producers will have access to USDA-FSA's low-interest emergency loan program for up to 100 percent of their weather-related agriculture production losses. USDA-FSA is the agency responsible for compiling the official crop loss statistics and administering the federal emergency farm loan programs.

For more information on the federal emergency farm loan programs, please visit the USDA-FSA Web site at http://www.fsa.usda.gov. For additional details on this declaration, click here: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/newsReleases?area=newsroom&subject=landing&topic=edn&newstype=ednewsrel&type=detail&item=ed_20120130_rel_0015.html

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