74 Indiana counties are primary natural disaster areas

Source: USDA Farm Service Agency

WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 10, 2019 — Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue designated 74 Indiana counties as primary natural disaster areas. Producers who suffered losses due to excessive rain and flooding that has occurred since March 1, 2019, may be eligible for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loans.

The Indiana counties with the primary natural disaster designation include Adams, Allen, Bartholomew, Blackford, Boone, Brown, Carroll, Cass, Clark, Clay, Crawford, Daviess, Dearborn, Decatur, DeKalb, Delaware, Dubois, Elkhart, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton, Gibson, Grant, Greene, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Huntington, Jackson, Jasper, Jay, Jennings, Johnson, Knox, Kosciusko, LaGrange, LaPorte, Lawrence, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Martin, Miami, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Newton, Noble, Ohio, Orange, Owen, Pike, Posey, Pulaski, Putnam, Randolph, Ripley, St. Joseph, Scott, Starke, Steuben, Sullivan, Switzerland, Tippecanoe, Union, Vigo, Wabash, Warrick, Washington, Wayne, Wells, White, and Whitley.

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 Indiana counties of Benton, Clinton, Floyd, Fountain, Hamilton, Harrison, Jefferson, Lake, Parke, Perry, Porter, Rush, Shelby, Spencer, Tipton, Vanderburgh, Vermillion, and Warren, along with Clark, Crawford, Edgar, Gallatin, Iroquois, Kankakee, Lawrence, Wabash, and White counties in Illinois; Boone, Carroll, Daviess, Gallatin, Henderson, Jefferson, Meade, Oldham, Trimble, and Union counties in Kentucky; Berrien, Branch, Cass, Hillsdale, and St. Joseph counties in Michigan; and Butler, Darke, Defiance, Hamilton, Mercer, Paulding, Preble, Van Wert and Williams counties in Ohio, are also eligible to apply for emergency loans.

The deadline to apply for these emergency loans is April 29, 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.

— USDA Farm Service Agency