Source: USDA, 10/17/17

Text of StoryU.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated nine counties in South Carolina as primary natural disaster areas due to losses and damages caused by frost and freeze that occurred from March 4, 2017, through March 17, 2017. Those counties are:
Aiken Cherokee Saluda
Allendale Edgefield Springfield
Barnwell Greenville Union
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in South Carolina also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:
Abbeville Fairfield McCormick
Anderson Greenwood Newberry
Bamberg Hampton Orangeburg
Chester Laurens Pickens
Colleton Lexington York

Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Georgia and North Carolina also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:
Georgia
Burke, Columbia, Richmond and Screven

North Carolina
Cleveland, Henderson, Polk, Rutherford and Transylvania

All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on Oct. 13, 2017, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for FSA’s emergency (EM) loans, 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.
Other FSA programs that can provide assistance, but do not require a disaster declaration, include Operating and Farm Ownership Loans; the Emergency Conservation Program; Livestock Forage Disaster Program;Livestock Indemnity Program; 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.