The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated Santa Cruz County in Arizona as a natural disaster area due to losses caused by a severe storm with excessive rain, high winds, and hail that occurred Aug. 15, 2010.

“President Obama and I understand these conditions caused severe production losses to grapes and prevented producers from harvesting,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This action will provide help to hundreds of farmers who suffered significant production losses.”

Farmers and ranchers in Cochise and Pima counties in Arizona also qualify for natural disaster assistance since the counties are contiguous with Santa Cruz County.

All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas Oct. 20, 2010 making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency (EM) loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) provided eligibility requirements are met.

Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available, and repayment ability.

FSA has a variety of programs, in addition to the EM loan program to help eligible farmers recover from adversity.

USDA also has made other programs available to assist farmers and ranchers, including: the supplemental revenue assistance program which was approved as part of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008; the emergency conservation program; federal crop insurance; and the noninsured crop disaster assistance program.

Interested farmers can contact their local USDA Service Centers for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs.

Additional information is available online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.