Emergency farm loan applications now taken

Applications for emergency farm loans for damages and losses caused by drought that occurred May 1 and continuing are being accepted at the Farm Service Agency office located in Hamilton County, according to D. Dale Vann Sr.

Lampasas is one of 35 counties in Texas recently named by Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer eligible for loans to cover part of actual production losses resulting from the damages caused by drought.

Vann said farmers may be eligible for loans of up to 100 percent of their actual losses or the operating loan needed to continue the agriculture business, whichever is less. For farmers unable to obtain credit from private commercial lenders, the interest rate is 3.75 percent.

"As a general rule, a farmer must have suffered at least a 30 percent loss in production to be eligible for an FSA emergency loan," said the agency representative. Farmers participating in the Federal Crop Insurance Program will have to figure in proceeds from these programs in determining their losses.

"Applications for loans under this emergency designation will be accepted until June 15, 2009, but farmers should apply as soon as possible. Delays in applying could create backlogs in processing and possibly over into the new farming season," said Vann.

FSA is a credit agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is authorized to provide disaster emergency loans to recognized farmers who work at and rely on farming for a substantial part of their living. Eligibility is extended to individual farms that meet U.S. citizenship requirements and to farming partnerships, corporations or cooperatives in which U.S. citizens hold a majority interest.

The Hamilton office, at 297 E. Highway 22, is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Phone (254) 386-3913 for information.