U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has designated 83 Texas counties as primary natural disaster areas. Farmers and ranchers who suffered losses due to recent drought may be eligible for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loans.
The Texas counties with the designation of primary natural disaster areas include:
Anderson, Atascosa, Bandera, Bee, Bell, Blanco, Brazos, Brown, Burleson, Burnet, Caldwell, Callahan, Cherokee, Coke, Coleman, Colorado, Comal, Concho, Crockett, Dallam, DeWitt, Dimmit, Eastland, Edwards, Freestone, Frio, Gillespie, Glasscock, Goliad, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Haskell, Hays, Henderson, Houston, Irion, Jackson, Jim Hogg, Jones, Karnes, Kendall, Kerr, Kinney, La Salle, Lavaca, Leon, Live Oak, Llano, McCulloch, Mason, Maverick, Medina, Menard, Navarro, Nolan, Palo Pinto, Real, Runnels, San Saba, Schleicher, Shackelford, Smith, Starr, Stephens, Sterling, Taylor, Throckmorton, Tom Green, Travis, Uvalde, Val Verde, Van Zandt, Victoria, Webb, Wharton, Wichita, Wilbarger, Williamson, Wilson, Wood, Young, Zapata and Zavala.
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.
Farmers and ranchers in the contiguous Texas counties of:
Angelina, Archer, Austin, Bastrop, Baylor, Bexar, Brazoria, Brooks, Calhoun, Camp, Clay, Comanche, Coryell, Crane, Duval, Ellis, Erath, Falls, Fayette, Fisher, Foard, Fort Bend, Franklin, Gregg, Grimes, Hardeman, Hartley, Hidalgo, Hill, Hood, Hopkins, Howard, Hunt, Jack, Jim Wells, Kaufman, Kimble, King, Knox, Lampasas, Lee, Limestone, McLennan, McMullen, Madison, Martin, Matagorda, Midland, Milam, Mills, Mitchell, Moore, Nacogdoches, Parker, Pecos, Rains, Reagan, Refugio, Robertson, Rusk, San Patricio, Scurry, Sherman, Stonewall, Sutton, Terrell, Trinity, Upshur, Upton, Walker and Washington, along with Union County, New Mexico, and Cimarron, Cotton, Jackson, and Tillman counties in Oklahoma, are also eligible to apply for emergency loans.
The deadline for farmers and ranchers who are in the primary natural disaster areas to apply for these emergency loans is Nov. 7.
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FSA will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.