The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has given 20 counties in Mississippi a primary disaster designation from crop damage and losses due to excessive rains and flooding between April1 to June 30, of this year. Thirty-two counties in Mississippi and three parishes in Louisiana have also received contiguous disaster designation.

“Some agricultural producers in Concordia, East Carroll, and Tensas parishes could be eligible for low interest emergency loans from the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met,” says Mike Strain, D.V.M., commissioner, Louisiana Agricultural and Forestry. “Farmers in these parishes have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses.”

The two Arkansas counties given designation as primary natural disaster areas are Greene and Mississippi.

Those primary Mississippi counties named in the disaster designation include: Adams, Alcorn, Clay, DeSoto, George, Greene, Issaquena, Itawamba, Jackson, Lee, Leflore, Lowndes, Panola, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Stone, Tishomingo, Tunica, and Union.

The contiguous Mississippi counties include: Benton, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Coahoma, Forrest, Franklin, Grenada, Hancock, Harrison, Holmes, Humphreys, Jefferson, Lafayette, Marshall, Monroe, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Pearl River, Perry, Sharkey, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tippah, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wilkinson, Yalobusha, and Yazoo.

“I appreciate Governor Phil Bryant’s assistance in requesting a disaster designation, and I thank Secretary Perdue and the USDA for their prompt review and approval of our request,” comments Andy Gipson, commissioner, Agriculture and Commerce, Mississippi. “I encourage our farmers in these designated counties to contact their local FSA office for more information.”