U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue designated 24 Texas as primary natural disaster areas. Farmers and ranchers may be eligible for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loans due to recent disasters.
This natural disaster designation allows FSA to extend much-needed emergency credit to farmers and ranchers recovering from natural disasters. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs, including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation or the refinance of certain debts.
Excessive Moisture and Flooding Aid
Farmers and ranchers in Armstrong, Bowie, Burleson, Collin, Ellis, Fannin, Floyd, Grayson, Hunt, Jackson, Lipscomb, Matagorda and Red River counties who suffered losses due excessive moisture and flooding that has occurred since Sept. 1, 2018, may be eligible to apply for emergency loans.
Farmers and ranchers in the Texas counties of Brazoria, Brazos, Briscoe, Calhoun, Carson, Cass, Colorado, Cooke, Crosby, Dallas, Delta, Denton, Dickens, Donley, Franklin, Gray, Hale, Hemphill, Henderson, Hill, Hopkins, Johnson, Kaufman, Lamar, Lavaca, Lee, Lubbock, Milam, Morris, Motley, Navarro, Ochiltree, Potter, Rains, Randall, Roberts, Robertson, Rockwall, Swisher, Tarrant, Titus, Van Zandt, Victoria, Washington and Wharton are also eligible to apply for emergency loans.
The deadline to apply for these emergency loans is May 6, 2020.
Drought Aid
Farmers and ranchers in Briscoe, Castro, Hall, Jim Wells, Nueces, Randall, Refugio, San Patricio, Swisher, Wichita and Wilbarger counties who suffered losses due to recent drought are eligible to apply for emergency loans.
Farmers and ranchers in the contiguous Texas counties of Aransas, Archer, Armstrong, Baylor, Bee, Briscoe, Brooks, Calhoun, Carson, Castro, Childress, Clay, Collingsworth, Cottle, Deaf Smith, Donley, Duval, Floyd, Foard, Goliad, Hale, Hall, Hardeman, Kleberg, Lamb, Live Oak, Motley, Oldham, Parmer, Potter, Randall, Swisher and Victoria are also eligible to apply for emergency loans.
The deadline to apply for these emergency loans is May 11, 2020.
Duval, Jim Hogg, Webb and Zapata counties were previously designated as primary natural disaster areas.
FSA will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.
FSA has a variety of additional programs to help farmers recover from the impacts of this disaster. FSA programs that do not require a disaster declaration include: Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program, Emergency Conservation Program, Livestock Forage Disaster Program, Livestock Indemnity Program, Operating and Farm Ownership Loans and the Tree Assistance Program.
Farmers may contact their local USDA service center for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs.
Additional information on the drought and flooding aid is also available online at farmers.gov/recover.