On Tuesday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced that 10 more counties have been added to the list of Ohio counties covered by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretarial disaster designations. Those additional areas included Richland County.
The new designations bring the total to 54 Ohio counties where farmers can seek potential relief from the USDA following Secretarial disaster designations in their counties or contiguous counties due to rain, flooding, or other weather conditions.
In letters dated Aug. 2, 2019, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said there were sufficient production losses to warrant a Secretarial natural disaster designation that adds the following 10 Ohio counties to the list of Ohio counties covered by the disaster designations: Adams, Ashland, Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, Highland, Lorain, Richland, and Warren.
These counties join 44 others previously designated.
According to the USDA, a Secretarial disaster designation makes farm operators in primary and contiguous counties eligible to be considered for certain assistance from the Farm Service Agency, which may include FSA emergency loans.
In June, Governor DeWine requested a USDA Secretarial disaster designation for Ohio and met with farmers about the effects of heavy rainfall this year.
Farmers should contact their local FSA offices for additional information. Additional information on USDA’s disaster assistance program can be found at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.
