Disaster Areas
Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) designated Gooding, Jerome and Lincoln counties in Idaho as primary natural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought. This brings the total Idaho counties with primary disaster designations to thirteen. "An expedited process for drought was introduced in 2012," said Idaho State Executive Director Mark Samson. "It occurs when, during the growing season, any portion of a county meets the D2 (Severe Drought) drought intensity value for eight consecutive weeks as reported in the US Drought Monitor. The 13 counties in Idaho that have primary designations fall under this expedited process." Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Idaho also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous to those just mentioned. Those counties are: Blaine, Cassia, Minidoka, Camas, Elmore and Twin Falls.
All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on June 17, 2015, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas 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.
Additional programs available to assist farmers and ranchers include the Emergency Conservation Program, The Livestock Forage Disaster Program, the Livestock Indemnity Program, the 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.
