Thirty-six counties in Indiana have been designated as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by extreme drought. State Executive Director of USDA’s Farm Service Agency in Indiana announced Friday that the USDA will also qualify farm operators in 19 other counties for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous to the designated counties.
Allen, Carroll, Cass, Crawford, Daviess, DeKalb, Dubois, Elkhart, Fulton, Gibson, Grant, Greene, Howard, Huntington, Knox, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Lawrence, Marshall, Martin, Miami, Noble, Orange, Perry, Pike, Posey, Pulaski, St. Joseph, Spencer, Steuben, Sullivan, Vanderburgh, Wabash, Warrick, Wells, and Whitley counties have been designated as primary natural disaster areas.
Farm operators in Adams, Blackford, Clay, Clinton, Delaware, Harrison, Jackson, Jasper, Jay, LaPorte, Madison, Monroe, Owen, Starke, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Vigo, Washington, and White counties will also qualify for natural disaster assistance.
All of these counties were designated natural disaster areas on July 12, making all qualified farmers eligible for low-interest emergency loans from FSA. Farmers in those counties have eight months to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses, and FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits.
USDA encourages all farmers to contact their crop insurance companies and local FSA offices to report damages to crops or livestock loss. In addition, they remind livestock producers to keep records of losses, including additional expenses for things such as feed purchased due to lost supplies.
