Farm Service Agency

Public Affairs Staff

1400 Independence Ave SW

Stop 0506, Room 3624-South

Washington, D.C. 20250-0506

Release No. 1446.08

Decision Allows Farmers and Ranchers to Apply for USDA Assistance

WASHINGTON, July 3, 2008 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture designated two California counties as primary natural disaster areas.

Alameda County, Calif., was designated a primary natural disaster area because of losses caused by drought and abnormal cold weather that occurred from March 8, 2008, through June 17, 2008. Farm operators in Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Santa Clara and Stanislaus counties in California also qualify for natural disaster benefits because their counties are contiguous.

Sonoma County, Calif., was designated a primary natural disaster area because of losses caused by drought from Jan. 1, 2008, through May 31, 2008. Farm operators in Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa and Solano counties in California also qualify for natural disaster benefits because their counties are contiguous.

All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on July 2, 2008, 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://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.

FSA news releases are available on FSA's Web site at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov via the "News and Events" link.