Sheridan, Sioux added to disaster counties

Sheridan and Sioux counties have een added to presidential disaster declarations, qualifying residents in those counties for Farm Service Agency loans in the aftermath of storms that caused damage to structures, equipment, livestock and crops.

Farm Service Agency (FSA), Kim Buchheit, announced that Sheridan County is one of 28 Nebraska counties designated as contiguous natural disaster areas due to severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds, and flooding conditions affecting parts of Nebraska. Those counties are Banner, Box Butte, Butler, Chase, Cheyenne, Clay, Custer, Dawson, Dodge, Douglas, Fillmore, Frontier, Garden, Hayes, Hitchcock, Johnson, Keith, Logan, McPherson, Nemaha, Pawnee, Perkins, Sarpy, Scotts Bluff, Seward, Sheridan, Webster, and York.

Sioux County has been designated as contiguous natural disaster areas due to severe storms and flooding conditions affecting parts of Wyoming.

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

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 February 25, 2016. For additional details contact the Chadron FSA office at 308-432-4616.

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 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: www.fema.gov and www.sba.gov.