Sec. Perdue Grants Iowa Gov. Reynolds' Request for a Secretarial Disaster Designation for Iowa County

DES MOINES, Iowa, Nov. 2 -- Gov. Kim Reynolds, R-Iowa, issued the following news release:

This weekend, the Governor's office announced United States Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue designated Iowa County as a primary natural disaster area.

In accordance with the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, 7 additional counties were designated contiguous natural disaster counties, including: Benton, Johnson, Keokuk, Linn, Powesheik, Tama and Washington counties.

These designations follow Secretary Perdue's September 3 approval of 42 counties considered primary and contiguous natural disaster areas in response to Governor Reynolds' request immediately following the storm.

"This designation by Secretary Perdue comes at a time when farmers are realizing the hard truth of the devastating derecho at the close of harvest," said Gov. Reynolds. "I am so grateful to President Trump and USDA Secretary Perdue for their support for our farmers during this critical time. We will continue to work together to additional resources available so that Iowans can rebuild their farms, livelihoods, and communities."

A Secretarial disaster designation makes farm operators in primary counties and those counties contiguous to such primary counties eligible to be considered for certain assistance from the Farm Service Agency (FSA), including FSA emergency loans. Farmers in eligible counties have 8 months from the date of a disaster declaration to apply for emergency loans.