FSA announces disaster designation for Kimball County

Farm Service Agency (FSA) Farm Loan Manager Roger Joekel announced Tuesday that Kimball County is one of six Nebraska counties designated as contiguous natural disaster areas due to severe storms, tornadoes, flooding, landslides and mudslides conditions affecting parts of Colorado. Those counties are Chase, Cheyenne, Deuel, Dundy, Kimball and Perkins.

These counties were designated a Presidential Major Disaster on July 16, 2015, based on a May 4 through June 16 with severe storms, tornadoes, flooding, landslides and mudslides. This designation authorizes Emergency (EM) Loans for eligible producers.

“Producers in these counties are encouraged to contact their local FSA Service Center for detailed information about available programs and updated disaster designations,” Joekel said.

Emergency loan applications are available for qualifying physical or production losses caused by these disaster conditions. Physical losses include structures, equipment and livestock while production losses include crops. These loans do require security and the ability to repay the loan. The deadline for submitting applications is March 16, 2016. For additional details contact the Scottsbluff County FSA office at 308-632-2195 ext. 2.

In addition to the Emergency (EM) Loan Program, the FSA has other loan programs and disaster assistance programs which can be considered in assisting farmers to recover from their losses. Contact your local FSA Service Center or access additional information about Farm Loan and FSA Disaster Assistance programs at http://www.fsa.usda.gov.

While this release pertains to the availability of FSA programs, other federal agencies such as FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and SBA (Small Business Administration) may also have assistance to the public. Information is available from these two agencies at the following websites: http://www.fema.gov and http://www.sba.gov.