Farm Service Agency

Public Affairs Staff

1400 Independence Ave SW

Stop 0506, Room 3624-South

Washington, D.C. 20250-0506

Release No. 1438.07

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2007 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture designated three California counties primary natural disaster areas.

USDA designated Mendocino and Sonoma counties in California primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by extremely low temperatures, freezing conditions and drought that occurred from Dec. 28, 2006, through Feb. 7, 2007. Also eligible because they are contiguous are Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Napa, Solano, Tehama and Trinity counties.

USDA designated San Diego County, California, a primary natural disaster area due to losses caused by extremely low temperatures and freezing conditions that occurred from Jan. 13, 2007, through Jan. 24, 2007. Also eligible because they are contiguous are Imperial, Orange and Riverside counties.

All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on March 21, 2007, 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 has also made other programs available to assist farmers and ranchers, including 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://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=diap&topic=landing.

FSA news releases are available on FSA's Web site at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov.

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