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Sunday's Child - Nikolas
Fort Stockton USDA Now Accepting Emergency Farm Loan Applications 7/18/12
Editor’s Note: The following is a news release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture office out of Fort Stockton.
Applications for emergency farm loans for losses caused by drought are being accepted at the Farm Service Agency (FSA) office located in Fort Stockton, Bill McAnally said today.
Brewster, Crane, Culberson, Ector, El Paso, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Loving, Pecos, Presidio, Reeves, Terrell, Ward, and Winkler Counties are part of the 252 Texas counties recently named by Secretary Vilsack as being eligible for loans to cover part of actual production and/or physical losses resulting from the drought.
McAnally said producers may be eligible for loans of up to 100% of their actual losses or the operating loan needed to continue the agricultural business, whichever is less. For producers unable to obtain credit from private commercial lenders, the interest rate is 2.25 percent.
“As a general rule, a producer must have suffered at least a 30 percent loss of production or suffered any physical loss to be eligible for an FSA emergency loan under this disaster declaration”, McAnally said. Producers participating in the Federal Crop Insurance program will have to consider proceeds from those programs in determining their production loss. Additionally, any insurance proceeds received by producers as a result of the physical loss will have to be considered in determining their total loss.
“Applications for loans under this emergency designation will be accepted until March 12, 2013 but producers should apply as soon as possible. Delays in applying could create backlogs in processing, with possible delays into the new season”, McAnally said.
FSA is a credit agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is authorized to provide disaster emergency loans to recognized producers who work at and rely on agriculture for a substantial part of their living. Eligibility is extended to individual producers who meet U.S. citizenship requirements and to partnerships, corporations, or cooperatives in which U.S. citizenship requirements are met by individuals holding a majority interest.
The FSA office in Fort Stockton is open from 8:00 to 5:00, Monday through Friday. Additional Information regarding Disaster Assistance Programs may be found online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.