USDA Designates 32 North Carolina Counties as Primary Natural Disaster Areas
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has designated 32 North Carolina counties as primary natural disaster areas. Producers who suffered losses due to excessive flooding and wind caused by Hurricane Florence that occurred Sept. 14, 2018, and continuing, may be eligible for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) assistance.
The counties in the primary damaged area are Johnston, Beaufort, Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Caswell, Chatham, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Duplin, Granville, Greene, Harnett, Hoke, Hyde, Jones, Lee, Lenoir, Montgomery, Moore, Nash, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pender, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson, Scotland, Wayne, and Wilson counties in North Carolina.
This designation by Secretary Perdue 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 North Carolina counties of Alamance, Anson, Dare, Davidson, Durham, Edgecombe, Franklin, Halifax, Martin, Orange, Person, Pitt, Randolph, Rockingham, Rowan, Stanly, Tyrrell, Vance, Wake, Warren and Washington, along with Chesterfield, Dillon, Horry and Marlboro counties in South Carolina and Danville, Halifax, Mecklenburg, and Pittsylvania counties in Virginia are also eligible to apply for emergency loans.
The deadline to apply for these emergency loans is July 8, 2019.
FSA will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.
Farmers may contact their local USDA service center for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs. Additional information is also available online at https://www.farmers.gov/recover.
