Source: Tanya Brown, USDA, 6/8/11

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 11 counties in Kentucky as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by severe storms, excessive rainfall and severe flooding that began April 17 and continues.

  “President Obama and I understand these conditions caused severe damage to pasture, forage crops, corn and wheat,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This action will provide help to hundreds of farmers who suffered significant production losses.”

The counties are:

Ballard            Hancock          Hopkins           Logan              Ohio                Union
Crittenden       Henderson       Livingston       McLean           Trimble            



  Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Kentucky also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous:

Breckinridge   Carlisle            Daviess            Lyon                Muhlenberg     Todd
Butler              Carroll             Grayson           Marshall          Oldham           Warren
Caldwell          Christian          Henry              McCracken      Simpson          Webster

  Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Tennessee also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous:

Illinois                                    
Alexander                               Hardin                                     Pope    
Gallatin                                   Massac                                    Pulaski
                                                                                
Indiana                                  
Clark                           Perry                            Spencer                       Warrick
Jefferson                     Posey                           Vanderburgh               
                                                                                
Missouri                                
Mississippi                                                                
                                                                                
Tennessee                              
Robertson                                
                                                                                                                                                                       
  All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas June 4, 2011, 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.


  USDA also has made other programs available to assist farmers and ranchers, including the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE), which was approved as part of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008; the Emergency Conservation Program; Federal Crop Insurance; and the Noninsured Crop Disaster 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.