Pettis, other counties get an agriculture disaster designation in aftermath of August storms

Farmers in Pettis and surrounding counties are now eligible for financial assistance through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency for losses sustained during a series of storms last August.

According to the Pettis County FSA office, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture designated seven Missouri counties — Pettis, Atchison, Gentry, Lafayette, Nodaway and Platte — as primary agricultural natural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by severe storms with hail and high winds that occurred from Aug. 18-22. The same storm system forced the temporary closure of the Missouri State Fair last year.

Steve Lair, a farm loan manager with the Pettis County FSA office, told the Democrat on Wednesday the designation, which allows for low-interest loans and some other assistance, is available to farmers with uninsured losses or whose losses last year have made it difficult to secure credit to finance the current season.

“The damage in Pettis County was not very widespread and was centered mostly in western Pettis near La Monte and Dresden, and some additional damage in the Green Ridge area,” Lair said. “Anyone with a related loss may apply.”

Pettis County Western Commissioner Larry Wilson, who maintains a farming operation in Pettis County, said he was not aware of people who had suffered serious losses due to the storms.

“We had some wind damage and it laid my corn down, but it wasn’t so bad I couldn’t still combine it,” Wilson said. “I don’t think it affected too many people.”

According to an FSA press release announcing the designation, 17 counties — Benton, Buchanan, Carroll, Clay, Clinton, Cooper, Daviess, DeKalb, Harrison, Henry, Holt,Jackson, Johnson, Morgan, Ray, Saline and Worth   — also were designated as contiguous natural disaster areas. Producers in contiguous counties may also be eligible for programs based on this designation.

All counties listed were designated natural disaster areas on Dec. 8, 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. 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.

According to the release, loan applications will be approved on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.

Loans for physical losses must be used to replace or repair damage to buildings, fences or to compensate the farmer for losses of basic livestock, stored crops or supplies on hand, equipment, etc., that was lost due to the disaster. Loans for production losses also may be used to buy feed, seed, fertilizer, livestock or to make payments on real estate or chattel debts. Generally, loans for production losses cannot be approved until crops have completed their production cycle or have been harvested.

In order to qualify, a farmer must have suffered a 30 percent loss in production or an actual physical loss that was essential to the successful operation of the farm.

USDA also has made a variety of other programs available to assist farmers in recovering from the disaster, 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 may contact the Pettis County FSA office at 826-3339, ext. 108, or online at fsa.usda.gov.