USDA Designates 28 South Dakota Counties as Primary Natural Disaster Areas - Emergency Support to Producers in Surrounding Minnesota Counties Also Available

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2020 — Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue designated 28 South Dakota counties as primary natural disaster areas. Producers who suffered losses due to excessive moisture and flooding that occurred from January 1, 2019, and continuing, may be eligible for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loans.

The South Dakota counties with the primary natural disaster designation include Beadle, Bennett, Campbell, Corson, Custer, Day, Dewey, Edmunds, Fall River, Faulk, Haakon, Hughes, Jackson, Jerauld, Lake, Marshall, McCook, McPherson, Minnehaha, Moody, Oglala Lakota, Roberts, Sanborn, Spink, Stanley, Sully, Walworth, and Ziebach.                                         

This natural disaster designation allows FSA to extend much-needed emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation or the refinance of certain debts.

Producers in the contiguous South Dakota counties of Aurora, Brookings, Brown, Brule, Buffalo, Clark, Codington, Davison, Grant, Hand, Hanson, Hutchinson, Hyde, Jones, Kingsbury, Lincoln, Lyman, Meade, Mellette, Miner, Pennington, Perkins, Potter, Todd, and Turner, along with Lyon County in Iowa, Big Stone, Lincoln, Pipestone, Rock, and Traverse counties in Minnesota, Cherry, Dawes, Sheridan, and Sioux counties in Nebraska, Adams, Emmons, Richland, Sioux, Dickey, McIntosh, and Sargent counties in North Dakota, and Niobrara and Weston counties in Wyoming, are also eligible to apply for emergency loans.

The deadline to apply for these emergency loans is Dec. 14, 2020.

FSA will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.

FSA has a variety of additional programs to help farmers recover from the impacts of this disaster. FSA programs that do not require a disaster declaration include: Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program; Emergency Conservation Program; Livestock Forage Disaster Program; Livestock Indemnity Program; Operating and Farm Ownership Loans; and the Tree Assistance Program.

Farmers may contact their local USDA service center for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs. Additional information is also available online at farmers.gov/recover.