For Immediate Release

January 31, 2013

Contact: Vickie A. Lane

Phone number: 334-279-3501

Email: Vickie.Lane@al.usda.gov

Daniel Robinson, State Executive Director

USDA offers emergency loans to producers ahead of 2013 crop season to help combat persistent drought

MONTGOMERY, Alabama, January 31, 2013 – Daniel Robinson, State Executive Director for USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), announces that the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently designated 14 counties in Alabama as primary natural disaster areas due to drought, making all qualified farm operators in the areas eligible for low-interest emergency loans. The counties are:

Bullock, Chambers, Clay, Cleburne, Coosa, Elmore, Henry, Lee, Macon, Montgomery, Randolph, Russell, Talladega, and Tallapoosa.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor (see http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/), these counties have suffered a drought intensity value during the growing season of (1) D2 (Drought-Severe) for 8 or more consecutive weeks; or (2) D3 (Drought-Extreme) or D4 (Drought-Exceptional).

Farm operators in the Alabama counties listed below also qualify for natural disaster benefits because their counties are contiguous.

Autauga, Barbour, Calhoun, Cherokee, Chilton, Crenshaw, Dale, Houston, Lowndes, Pike, St. Clair, and Shelby.

Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Georgia also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous. Those counties are:

Georgia:

Carroll, Chattahoochee, Clay, Early, Haralson, Harris, Heard, Muscogee, Polk, Troup, and Stewart.

All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas Jan. 9, 2013, 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.

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 website at www.fsa.usda.gov via the “Newsroom” link.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Stop 9410, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call toll-free (866) 632-9992 (English) or (800) 877-8339 (TDD) or (866) 377-8642 (English Federal-relay) or (800) 845-6136 (Spanish Federal-relay).