The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 13 counties in North Carolina as primary natural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by excessive rain and flooding that began May 1 and continues.

These counties were designated natural disaster areas on Sept. 18, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency, provided eligibility requirements are met.

For a list of the counties and additional information, see http://www.ncagr.gov/.

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