The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture has announced that 33 counties in Texas were declared a disaster on Sept. 10, 2018, due to damages and losses caused by severe storms from Sept. 10, 2018, through Nov. 2, 2018. Under this designation, producers in any of the 33 primary disaster counties or any of the 69 contiguous disaster counties are eligible to apply for low interest emergency loans.
Among the Central Texas counties designated as primary disaster counties are Burnet, Llano and Travis. Hays is counted among the contiguous disaster counties, as are Blanco and Caldwell.
“The disaster designation is welcome relief to producers because it allows all qualified operators in primary and contiguous counties to apply for a low interest emergency (loan,” said Katie Jolander, farm loan officer.
Emergency loans help producers recover from production and physical losses due to drought, flooding and other natural disasters or quarantine.
Producers have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for emergency loan assistance. The Farm Service Agency will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability. Producers can borrow up to 100 percent of actual production or physical losses, to a maximum amount of $500,000. The current emergency loan interest rate is 2.875 percent.
Producers with operations in counties that did receive a disaster designation could be eligible for emergency loan assistance if they suffered at least a 30 percent loss in crop production or a physical loss to livestock, livestock products, real estate or chattel property.
For more information about emergency loans, please contact your local FSA office or visit the USDA's website.
