For Immediate Release

July 16, 2012

Contact:

Vickie A. Lane (334)279-3501

Montgomery, Alabama, July 16, 2012— USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) State Executive Director Daniel Robinson said that 33 counties in Alabama have received a Secretarial Disaster Designation under the Secretarial Drought Fast-track. These counties are eligible for FSA loans and programs to assist with recovery.

The primary Alabama counties are: Autauga, Baldwin, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Chilton, Clay, Cleburne, Coffee, Conecuh, Coosa, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Dallas, Elmore, Escambia, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Montgomery, Perry, Pike, Randolph, Russell, Talladega, Tallapoosa, and Wilcox.

The following Alabama counties are eligible because they are contiguous: Calhoun, Cherokee, Clarke, Hale, Jefferson, Marengo, Mobile, Monroe, St. Clair, Shelby, Tuscaloosa, and Washington.

All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on July 12, 2012, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency (EM) loans at 2.25 percent 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.

Robinson encourages all farmers and ranchers to contact their crop insurance companies and local USDA Farm Service Agency Service Centers, as applicable, to report damages to crops or livestock loss. In addition, he also reminds livestock producers to keep thorough records of losses, including additional expenses for such things as food purchased due to lost supplies.

More information about federal crop insurance may be found at www.rma.usda.gov. Additional resources to help farmers and ranchers deal with the drought may be found at http://www.usda.gov/disaster.

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