Drought Watch Moves To New Jersey, New York

August 11, 1999

All of New Jersey and 34 counties in New York have been designated as agricultural disaster areas. Farmers in those areas now are eligible for emergency, low-interest loans to help alleviate the effects of heat and drought.

Farmers have eight months to apply for the loans to help cover at least part of their actual losses. To be eligible, farmers must have suffered at least a 30% loss of normal production in a single enterprise, be able to repay the loan and any other loans, be unable to obtain credit elsewhere and have adequate security.

Other USDA assistance available to farmers in designated drought disaster areas includes the Emergency Conservation Program which provides cost-share funding for water conservation measures, federal crop insurance and the Non-insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program which provides compensation for crops for which crop insurance is not available.

Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman visits Connecticut today to view drought damage. He will join Sens. Chris Dodd and Joe Lieberman at a Northford, CT, farm which they will tour, then hold a news conference. USDA Under Secretary August Schumacher visited a farm in western Pennsylvania Tuesday to view drought damage.