(Washington, DC) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 67 counties in Oklahoma as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by the combined effects of drought, wildfires, excessive heat, excessive rain, flooding, tornadoes, lightning, high winds, hail, blizzards and freezes that occurred during the period of Jan. 1, 2011, and continues.
“Oklahoma producers can continue to count on USDA to provide emergency assistance during continued economic difficulties,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “President Obama and I are committed to reducing the impact of these disasters for Oklahoma producers and will commit all available resources to help in recovery.”
Those counties are:
Alfalfa
Cotton
Jackson
McClain
Pontotoc
Atoka
Creek
Jefferson
McCurtain
Pottawatomie
Beaver
Custer
Johnston
McIntosh
Pushmataha
Beckham
Dewey
Kay
Murray
Roger Mills
Blaine
Ellis
Kingfisher
Muskogee
Seminole
Bryan
Garfield
Kiowa
Noble
Sequoyah
Caddo
Garvin
Latimer
Okfuskee
Stephens
Canadian
Grady
Le Flore
Oklahoma
Texas
Carter
Grant
Lincoln
Okmulgee
Tillman
Choctaw
Greer
Logan
Osage
Wagoner
Cimarron
Harmon
Love
Pawnee
Washita
Cleveland
Harper
Major
Payne
Woods
Coal
Haskell
Marshall
Pittsburg
Woodward
Comanche
Hughes
Farmers and ranchers in Adair, Cherokee, Mayes, Rogers, Tulsa and Washington counties in Oklahoma also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous.
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Texas also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous.
All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas July 27, 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 https://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.
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