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Texas Agriculture Archive

"This administration is committed to providing assistance to America's agricultural producers in a quick and expedited manner," said Veneman. "As drought and other extreme weather conditions persist, we continue to use all available programs to help farmers and ranchers."

EM loans and LCP available

Farmers and ranchers may now apply for low-interest Emergency (EM) loans from FSA in all primary and contiguous counties named under the designations.

On Oct. 1 sign-up began for LCP, which made available $752 million for cattle, sheep, goat and buffalo producers with livestock headquarter operations physically located in counties that have received a Secretarial primary disaster designation after Jan. 1, 2001, due to drought.

Counties named as contiguous counties are not eligible for the Livestock Compensation Program (LCP). A county that has a Secretarial disaster designation request pending for drought as of Sept. 19, 2002, and is subsequently approved as a primary county, will be eligible.

Qualifying livestock producers in the counties in states that have received primary disaster declarations for drought may therefore enroll in LCP, because all of the requests were submitted by the applicable governors to the Secretary no later than Sept. 19, 2002.

122 primary Texas counties

Texas has received primary disaster designations for 122 counties due to drought that has been ongoing since Jan. 1, 2002. The 122 Texas primary counties are also open for LCP applications from eligible livestock producers because the counties were declared disaster areas due to drought. Fifty-eight contiguous disaster counties were also named.

These designations make all qualified farm operators eligible for low-interest EM loans from the Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met.

Must apply within 8 months

Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for the loans to help cover part of their actual losses. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.

FSA has a variety of programs available, in addition to the emergency loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity.

Since the beginning of the year, USDA has declared several other states, particularly in the western plains and mountain states, as agricultural disaster areas.

Additional programs offered

USDA has also made other programs available to assist farmers and ranchers, including the Emergency Conservation Program, Federal Crop Insurance and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program.

Earlier this year, Veneman also announced the authorization of emergency grazing on Conservation Reserve Program acres in an effort to provide drought relief in states that were particularly affected by drought over the past year. Farmers may contact their local FSA Service Centers for more information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs.

For a complete list of primary and contiguous county designations by state and other information pertaining to the disaster programs, visit the USDA website: www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/disaster/assistance1.htm.