Emergency farm loan applications being accepted

Applications for emergency farm loans for losses caused by drought, Oct. 1, 2012, and continuing are being accepted at the Farm Service Agency (FSA) office located in Mt. Pleasant.

Cass County was recently named by the Secretary of Agriculture to be eligible for loans for production and physical losses resulting from the drought.

Jeff Harrison, Farm Loan Manager for USDA-FSA, said farmers may be eligible for loans of up to 100 percent of their actual losses or the operating loan needed to continue the agricultural business, whichever is less. For farmers unable to obtain credit from private commercial lenders, the interest rate is 3.75 percent.

"As a general rule, a farmer must have suffered at least a 30 percent loss of production to be eligible for an FSA emergency loan," Harrison said.

Farmers participating in the Federal Crop Insurance program will have to consider proceeds from those programs in determining their loss. Applications for loans under this emergency designation will be accepted until Sept. 9, 2013 but farmers should apply as soon as possible.

"Delays in applying could create backlogs in processing, with possible delays into the new farming season," Harrison said.

FSA is a credit agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is authorized to provide disaster emergency loans to recognized farmers who work at and rely on farming for a substantial part of their living.

Eligibility is extended to individual farmers who meet U.S. citizenship requirements and to farming partnerships, corporations, or cooperatives in which U.S. citizenship requirements are met by individuals holding a majority interest.

The FSA office in Mt. Pleasant is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday