WASHINGTON, D.C. — Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has designated 83 Texas counties as primary natural disaster areas. Producers who suffered losses due to recent drought may be eligible for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loans.
The Texas counties with the primary natural disaster designation include Anderson, Atascosa, Bandera, Bee, Bell, Blanco, Brazos, Brown, Burleson, Burnet, Caldwell, Callahan, Cherokee, Coke, Coleman, Colorado, Comal, Concho, Crockett, Dallam, DeWitt, Dimmit, Eastland, Edwards, Freestone, Frio, Gillespie, Glasscock, Goliad, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Haskell, Hays, Henderson, Houston, Irion, Jackson, Jim Hogg, Jones, Karnes, Kendall, Kerr, Kinney, La Salle, Lavaca, Leon, Live Oak, Llano, McCulloch, Mason, Maverick, Medina, Menard, Navarro, Nolan, Palo Pinto, Real, Runnels, San Saba, Schleicher, Shackelford, Smith, Starr, Stephens, Sterling, Taylor, Throckmorton, Tom Green, Travis, Uvalde, Val Verde, Van Zandt, Victoria, Webb, Wharton, Wichita, Wilbarger, Williamson, Wilson, Wood, Young, Zapata, and Zavala.
This natural disaster designation allows FSA to extend much-needed emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation or the refinance of certain debts.
Producers in the contiguous Texas counties of Angelina, Archer, Austin, Bastrop, Baylor, Bexar, Brazoria, Brooks, Calhoun, Camp, Clay, Comanche, Coryell, Crane, Duval, Ellis, Erath, Falls, Fayette, Fisher, Foard, Fort Bend, Franklin, Gregg, Grimes, Hardeman, Hartley, Hidalgo, Hill, Hood, Hopkins, Howard, Hunt, Jack, Jim Wells, Kaufman, Kimble, King, Knox, Lampasas, Lee, Limestone, McLennan, McMullen, Madison, Martin, Matagorda, Midland, Milam, Mills, Mitchell, Moore, Nacogdoches, Parker, Pecos, Rains, Reagan, Refugio, Robertson, Rusk, San Patricio, Scurry, Sherman, Stonewall, Sutton, Terrell, Trinity, Upshur, Upton, Walker, and Washington, along with Union County, New Mexico, and Cimarron, Cotton, Jackson, and Tillman counties in Oklahoma, are also eligible to apply for emergency loans.
The deadline to apply for these emergency loans is Nov. 7, 2020.
FSA will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.
— USDA Farm Service Agency
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