Sixty in Colorado Now Disaster Areas

May 31, 2002

Sixty counties in Colorado have been designated drought disaster areas, making Colorado farmers and ranchers immediately eligible for USDA emergency farm loans due to losses caused by drought this year.

USDA has also made other programs available to assist farmers in Colorado including federal crop insurance, noninsured crop disaster assistance, the Emergency Conservation Program and the Emergency Loan Program.

The drought disaster declaration makes all qualified farm operators in primary and contiguous disaster counties eligible for low-interest EM loans from USDA's Farm Service Agency, provided eligibility requirements are met.

Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of this declaration to apply for the loans to help cover part of their actual losses. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.

For more information about USDA programs to help eligible farmers recover from adversity, producers are urged to contact their local FSA office to learn more about eligibility requirements and application procedures. Additional information is available on-line at: http://www.fsa.usda.gov/pas/disaster/assistance1.htm.