SALISBURY – Rowan is one of 12 North Carolina counties designated as natural disaster areas by the U.S. Department of Agriculture due to spring floods.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has named two counties, Davidson and Yadkin, as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by excessive rain and flooding that occurred May 14-16.
Ten contiguous counties also qualify for natural disaster assistance and were designated natural disaster areas on Oct. 10. These counties are Rowan, Davie, Guilford, Montgomery, Forsyth, Iredell, Randolph, Stanly, Surry and Wilkes.
All qualified farm operators in these areas are eligible for low interest emergency loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency, provided eligibility requirements are met.
Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses. 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.
The Farm Service Agency has a variety of programs, in addition to the emergency loan program, to help eligible farmers and ranchers recover from adversity. Those include the Emergency Conservation Program, Federal Crop Insurance and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program.
Interested farmers may contact their local USDA Service Centers for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs.
The Salisbury service center can be reached at 704-637-1604. More information is also available online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.