The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced today that the USDA has issued disaster designations for counties affected by Hurricane Michael in Oct. 2018. The designations are for extensive flooding and winds caused by the hurricane. These were contiguous designations for counties adjacent to North Carolina counties named by USDA as primary disaster areas. This is the second round of designations for Pittsylvania, Halifax and Mecklenburg, They also received designations in late 2018.

A Secretarial disaster designation makes farm operators in both primary and contiguous counties eligible for consideration for assistance from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met. This assistance includes FSA emergency loans.

Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of a Secretarial disaster declaration to apply. FSA considers each emergency loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of production losses on the farm and the security and repayment ability of the operator.

Local FSA offices can provide affected farmers with additional information.