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Ohio’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) Executive Director Larry Adams has announced that 36 counties in Ohio as eligible for USDA emergency farm loans due to losses caused by excessive rain, flooding and army worms that occurred earlier this year.

This assistance will help Ohio farmers recover from reduced yields due to flooding that delayed corn and soybean planting, and a worm infestation that destroyed much of the area's wheat crop, according to Ann Veneman, U.S. agriculture secretary.

Brown, Clermont, Defiance, Fulton, Gallia, Hancock, Jackson, Ottawa, Paulding, Putnam, Vinton and Wyandot counties were named as primary disaster areas Nov. 2, 2001. Also eligible because they are contiguous, are Adams, Allen, Athens, Clinton, Crawford, Erie, Hamilton, Hardin, Henry, Highland, Hocking, Lawrence, Lucas, Marion, Meigs, Pike, Ross, Sandusky, Scioto, Seneca, Van Wert, Warren, Williams and Wood counties.

This designation makes all qualified farm operators in primary and contiguous disaster counties eligible for low-interest loans from FSA, 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.

FSA has a variety of programs available, in addition to the emergency loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity. Interested farmers may contact their local FSA offices for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures.