USDA Announces that 16 Maine Counties are Eligible for Emergency Farm Loans

January 3, 2002

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman yesterday named 16 counties in Maine as eligible for USDA emergency farm loans due to losses caused by armyworm infestation. The losses occurred last summer because infestation resulted from an unusually mild winter. The assistance is designed to help Maine farmers recover from an infestation that destroyed much of the state's hay, pasture, and corn crops.

This designation makes all qualified farm operators in primary and contiguous disaster counties eligible for low-interests emergency loans from USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA), if eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for the loans to help cover part of their actual losses. The FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available, and repayment ability.