Washington County named disaster area for crop losses

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has named Washington as one of 27 counties to receive a disaster designation for losses suffered during the 2011 crop year. USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack addressed a letter to Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad Wednesday in which Vilsack wrote that the USDA had reviewed the Loss Assessment reports and determined that there were sufficient production losses to warrant a secretarial disaster designation for 27 counties in Iowa.

?I am designating 27 Iowa counties as primary natural disaster areas because of damage and losses caused by the combined effects of severe storms, excessive rain, flooding, flash flooding, hail, high winds, lightning, tornadoes, landslides, mudslides, excessive heat and drought that occurred from April 1, 2011 and are continuing,? Vilsack wrote.

The significance of a disaster declaration is that it makes farm operators in both primary and contiguous counties eligible to be considered for assistance from the Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided that eligibility requirements are met. The assistance includes FSA emergency loans and the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments (SURE) Program. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of a secretarial disaster declaration to apply for emergency loan assistance.

SURE Program applications for 2011 crop losses will be accepted in 2012, when the farm revenue data required by the statute becomes available.

The other 26 counties named are Clarke, Davis, Decatur, Fremont, Henry, Jefferson, Jones, Keokuk, Lee, Linn, Louisa, Lucas, Mahaska, Marshall, Mills, Monona, Monroe, Montgomery, Page, Polk, Tama, Taylor, Van Buren, Wapello, Wayne and Woodbury.