West Texas, Panhandle counties eligible to apply for USDA natural disaster loans

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has designated 24 counties in Texas as primary natural disaster areas, giving producers in West Texas the chance to be eligible for emergency loans.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency emergency loans can be extended to give producers emergency credit as they recover from natural disasters and covers various needs such as the replacement of essential items, reorganization of an operation, or the refinance of certain debts.

"U.S. agriculture has been dealt a hefty blow by extreme weather over the last several years, and 2019 is no exception," Perdue said in a statement. "The scope of this year's prevented planting alone is devastating, and although these disaster program benefits will not make producers whole, we hope the assistance will ease some of the financial strain farmers, ranchers and their families are experiencing. President Trump has the backs of our farmers, and we are working to support America's great patriot farmers."

More than $3 billion is available through the disaster relief package passed by Congress and signed by President Trump in early June.

Producers who have experienced and suffered losses due to excessive moisture and flooding in Armstrong, Floyd, and Lipscomb counties that has occurred since Sept. 1, 2018 may be eligible to apply for emergency loans. Producers in Briscoe, Carson, Crosby, Dickens, Donley, Hale, Hemphill, Lubbock, Motley, Ochiltree, Potter, Randall, Roberts and Swisher counties are also eligible to apply for the loans. The deadline to apply is May 6, 2020.

For drought-related emergency loans, producers from Briscoe, Castro, Hall, Randall and Swisher counties are eligible to apply. Producers in Armstrong, Carson, Childress, Collingsworth, Cottle, Deaf Smith, Floyd, Hale, Lamb, Motley, Oldham, Parmer, Potter, Randall, and Swisher are also eligible to apply. The deadline is May 11, 2020.

The FSA will review the loan applications based on the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability. For more information or a complete list of counties throughout the state, visit farmers.gov/recover.

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