Agricultural News
Counties Across Oklahoma and Texas Named Natural Disaster Areas
Tue, 28 Jun 2011 08:56:58 CDT
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 213 counties in Texas as primary natural disaster areas, as well as 15 Oklahoma counties that are contiguous to the primary counties, after one of the worst droughts in more than a century. The counties across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and New Mexico sustained excessive heat, high winds and wildfires that burned hundreds of thousands of acres.
The 15 counties across Oklahoma that have been named are: Beaver, Beckham, Bryan, Choctaw, Cimarron, Cotton, Ellis, Harmon, Jackson, Jefferson, Love, McCurtain, Roger Mills, Texas and Tillman counties. A complete list of counties named natural disaster areas can be found below.
"Many producers have lost their crops due to the devastation caused by the drought and wildfires," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "President Obama and I want these farmers and ranchers to know that we will support them through the recovery process and help them once again become productive suppliers of food, fiber and fuel that keep America prospering. This designation will help provide that support."
The drought, wildfires and other natural disasters which began Jan. 1, 2011, and continues caused 30 percent or more loss of forage crops, pasture, corn, oats and wheat in the following counties:
Anderson Cochran Galveston Jim Hogg Midland Scurry
Andrews Coke Garza Jim Wells Mills Shackelford
Angelina Coleman Gillespie Johnson Mitchell Shelby
Aransas Collin Glasscock Jones Montgomery Sherman
Archer Collingsworth Goliad Karnes Moore Smith
Armstrong Colorado Gonzales Kendall Morris Somervell
Atascosa Comal Gray Kenedy Motley Starr
Austin Comanche Gregg Kent Nacogdoches Stephens
Bailey Concho Grimes Kerr Newton Sterling
Bandera Cooke Guadalupe Kimble Nolan Stonewall
Bastrop Coryell Hale King Ochiltree Sutton
Baylor Cottle Hall Kleberg Oldham Swisher
Bee Crockett Hamilton Knox Orange Taylor
Bell Crosby Hansford La Salle Palo Pinto Terrell
Blanco Culberson Hardeman Lamar Panola Throckmorton
Bosque Dallam Hardin Lamb Parker Titus
Bowie De Witt Harris Lampasas Parmer Tom Green
Brazoria Deaf Smith Harrison Lavaca Pecos Travis
Brazos Delta Hartley Lee Polk Trinity
Brewster Denton Haskell Leon Potter Tyler
Briscoe Dickens Hays Liberty Presidio Upshur
Brooks Donley Hemphill Limestone Rains Upton
Brown Duval Hidalgo Lipscomb Randall Val Verde
Burleson Eastland Hockley Live Oak Reagan Victoria
Burnet Edwards Hood Loving Reeves Walker
Caldwell El Paso Hopkins Lubbock Refugio Waller
Calhoun Ellis Houston Lynn Roberts Washington
Callahan Erath Howard Madison Robertson Webb
Cameron Fayette Hudspeth Marion Rusk Wheeler
Camp Fisher Hutchinson Martin Sabine Wichita
Cass Floyd Irion McCulloch San Augustine Wilbarger
Castro Foard Jack McLennan San Jacinto Willacy
Chambers Fort Bend Jackson McMullen San Patricio Wood
Cherokee Franklin Jasper Medina San Saba Young
Childress Freestone Jeff Davis Menard Schleicher Zapata
Clay Frio Jefferson
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Texas also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous:
Bexar Ector Hunt Milam Runnels Williamson
Borden Falls Kaufman Montague Tarrant Wilson
Carson Fannin Kinney Navarro Terry Winkler
Crane Gaines Llano Nueces Uvalde Wise
Dallas Grayson Mason Real Van Zandt Yoakum
Dawson Henderson Matagorda Red River Ward Zavala
Dimmit Hill Maverick Rockwall Wharton
Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous:
Arkansas
Little River Miller
Louisiana
Beauregard Calcasieu De Soto Vernon
Caddo Cameron Sabine
New Mexico
Curry Eddy Otero Roosevelt
Dona Ana Lea Quay Union
Oklahoma
Beaver Choctaw Ellis Jefferson Roger Mills
Beckham Cimarron Harmon Love Texas
Bryan Cotton Jackson McCurtain Tillman
All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas June 24, 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.
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