(April 11, 2014) U.S. Representative Richard Hanna announced that three counties in Central New York have been designated “disasters” due to losses caused by a freeze that occurred this winter.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has determined the following counties in the 22nd Congressional District suffered sufficient production losses due to a freeze that occurred from December 1, 2013 through March 14, 2014 to warrant a Secretarial disaster designation:
– Contiguous counties include: Cortland, Madison and Oswego counties.
A Secretarial disaster designation makes farm operators in both primary and contiguous counties eligible to be considered for an assistance from the FSA provided eligibility requirements are met. This assistance includes FSA emergency loans. Farmers in eligible counties have 8 months from the date of a Secretarial disaster declaration to apply for emergency loan assistance. FSA will consider each emergency loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of production losses, security available and repayment ability.
“I am pleased that our farmers will now be able to apply for assistance if they need it,” Rep. Hanna said. “You can’t know when a natural disaster will strike and unfortunately one bad storm can wipe out an entire crop season. USDA disaster programs can help our agriculture industry recover, and I encourage impacted farmers in these counties to contact their local FSA office.”