Johanns issues disaster declaration for 24 S.D. counties

FROM WIRE REPORTS
August 1, 2006

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has issued a disaster declaration for 24 South Dakota counties because of drought and other weather-related losses.

The declaration was sought by Gov. Mike Rounds.

Farmers and ranchers in the counties are now eligible to apply for emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency that carry a finance charge of 3.75 percent.

Twenty-three counties were declared disaster areas because of drought, frost, high winds and insect damage. Another county, Turner, received the designation because of a hailstorm in June.

In addition to the 24 primary counties, 24 adjoining counties qualify for relief.

Applicants for emergency loans must own or operate land in a designated county, be an established family farm operation, have suffered at least a 30 percent loss in crop production, or a physical loss to livestock.

Applicants must have an acceptable credit history, be unable to obtain credit from commercial sources and have security and repayment ability for the proposed loan.

Johanns is considered a request from Rounds for a disaster declaration in 18 other counties, some of which qualify as contiguous counties under Johanns’ recent declaration.

The 24 counties directly qualifying for relief are: Brule, Buffalo, Campbell, Corson, Custer, Dewey, Edmunds, Fall River, Faulk, Hughes, Hyde, Jackson, Jerauld, Jones, Lyman, Meade, Pennington, Perkins, Potter, Stanley, Sully, Turner, Walworth and Ziebach.

The 24 adjoining counties qualifying for relief are: Aurora, Beadle, Bennett, Brown, Butte, Charles Mix, Clay, Gregory, Haakon, Hand, Harding, Hutchinson, Lawrence, Lincoln, McCook, McPherson, Mellette, Minnehaha Sanborn, Shannon, Spink, Todd, Tripp and Yankton.