The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) Acting Administrator Chris Beyerhelm announced physical loss loans are available for four counties in Texas.
Farm operators who suffered major physical damage and losses caused by a tornado that occurred on April 29 may be eligible for emergency loans.
The Physical Loss Notification has been issued for Henderson, Hopkins, Rains and Van Zandt counties as the primary damaged area.
An additional 11 Texas counties are contiguous to this designated disaster area. Therefore, those farmers and ranchers could also potentially be eligible for programs based on this designation. These contiguous counties are: Anderson, Cherokee, Delta, Ellis, Franklin, Freestone, Hunt, Kaufman, Navarro, Smith and Wood.
FSA’s low interest emergency loans may be made available to any applicant with a qualifying loss in the counties named. Approval is limited to applicants who suffered severe physical losses only.
Physical loss loans may be made to eligible farmers and ranchers to repair or replace damaged or destroyed physical property essential to the success of the agricultural operation, including livestock losses. Examples of property commonly affected include essential farm buildings, fixtures to real estate, equipment, livestock, perennial crops, fruit and nut bearing trees, harvested or stored crops and hay.
Farmers and ranchers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans for physical losses.
Contact FSA for more information on loan eligibility and the application process. FSA office information is available at http://offices.usda.gov.
Additional FSA disaster assistance program information is available at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.