Brett Steelhammer tosses a bale of hay from one truck to another on Wednesday, June 28, 2017, at his family's farm in Galvin.
Farmers and ranchers experiencing losses due to drought may qualify for low-interest emergency loans from the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA). A Secretarial Disaster Designation due to drought starting July 24 triggered availability of the loans in certain Washington counties.
Those counties are: Lewis, Thurston, Pacific, Grays Harbor, Pierce, Clark, Cowlitz, Skamania and Wahkiakum. While the targeted counties for loans are Lewis, Clark, Cowlitz, Pacific, Skamania and Wahkiakum, farmers and ranchers in the others are eligible due to being contiguous to the others.
FSA emergency loans currently have a 3.75 percent rate, according to a press release from the United States Department of Agriculture. The maximum loan amount is $500,000, and may be used to restore or replace essential property, pay all or some production costs associated with the disaster year, pay essential family living expenses, reorganize a farming operation or repayment ability.
Farmers and ranchers have eight months from the date of the designation to apply for emergency loans. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability, reads the press release.
FSA offers additional programs to help farmers and ranchers recover from damages caused by natural disasters. These programs include the Emergency Loan Program; Livestock Indemnity Program; Livestock Forage Program; Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-raised Fish; the Tree Assistance Program and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program. Most information on ECP and other disaster programs is available at local FSA offices and online athttp://www.fsa.usda.gov/wa.
