SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV) -
Farmers in several Siouxland counties may be eligible for disaster assistance thanks to designations by the United States Department of Agriculture.
Lyon, Plymouth, Sioux and Woodbury counties in Iowa were named primary natural disaster areas Wednesday. The USDA says these counties qualify because they've suffered from severe drought for eight or more consecutive weeks or experienced extreme drought at anytime this growing season. Six other Iowa counties; Cherokee, Crawford, Ida, Monona, O'Brien and Osceola were named as contiguous disaster counties.
"Today's disaster designation of 10 additional Iowa counties demonstrates the impact that the drought has made on Iowa's agricultural industry. The Lt. Governor and I would like to extend our gratitude towards Sec. Vilsack in recognizing the needs of these additional counties. This disaster designation will provide affected Iowans with additional resources during these difficult times," said Governor Branstad.
The USDA says in accordance with the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, that also qualifies counties in adjacent states to be named contiguous disaster areas. Those counties include Dakota and Thurston in Nebraska. In South Dakota, Lincoln, Minnehaha, and Union made the USDA's list.
A Secretarial Disaster Designation makes farm operators in qualifying counties eligible to be considered for certain assistance from the Farm Service Agency (FSA) provided requirements are met. This assistance includes FSA emergency loans. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the designation date to apply for emergency loan assistance.
