WASHINGTON COUNTY QUALIFIES FOR NATURAL DISATER ASSISTANCE FROM USDA
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 14 counties in Texas, including Washington County as primary natural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought. Those counties are:
Angelina, Lee, San Augustine, Burleson McLennan, Shelby, Caldwell, Nacogdoches, Trinity, Guadalupe, Panola, Williamson, Harrison, and Rusk.
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Texas also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:
Bastrop, Gonzales, Sabine, Bell, Gregg, San Jacinto, Bexar, Hays, Smith, Bosque, Hill, Travis, Brazos, Houston Tyler, Burnet, Jasper, Upshur, Cherokee Limestone, Walker, Comal, Marion, Washington, Coryell, Milam, Wilson, Falls, Polk, Fayette and Robertson
All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on Sept. 23, 2015, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency, 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.
This USDA designation is great news for Washington County! Many farm and ranch operators that have experienced losses due to the drought are eligible and have an opportunity to apply for a number of disaster relief programs to offset their losses and recover from the devastating effects of this natural disaster. Again, the application for funds is time sensitive: apply early. As an advisor serving on the USDA-FSA Austin/Washington County Board, I can state that a great team is assembled to serve the community. This link http://washington.agrilife.org/files/2015/02/Local-Resources-Page.pdf is a good resource to start the application process and have your questions answered. The staff is dedicated and responsive!