USDA declares Jenkins County disaster area

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) designated 152 Georgia counties primary natural disaster areas because of record setting cold temperatures and freezing conditions that occurred from April 6 through April 9. Jenkins County was among those counties.

The designation occurred May 18, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency loans from USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA), 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. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merit, taking into account the extent of the losses, security available and repayment ability.

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

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. Interested farmers may contact their local FSA office for further information.