Kentucky farmers should contact their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) Service Center

WASHINGTON (May 7, 2010)—In order to help Kentucky farmers recover from recent flooding in the region, today, Congressman Chandler contacted Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and urged him to sign onto a Disaster Declaration for Kentucky farmers.  This declaration would make Kentucky farmers eligible for low-interest loans to address damages caused by the floods.

Currently, nearly 2000 farms in the Sixth Congressional District have already been impacted by the flooding. Some farmers face damaged or destroyed barns and other structures, dead livestock, early crop losses, and damaged and destroyed fencing.  If the declaration is signed, Kentucky farmers will be eligible to apply for low-interest fixed-rate loans through the Farm Service Agency (FSA) at a current interest rate 3.5%.  The loans will give farmers additional financial resources to restore farming operations and repair damages caused by the recent flooding.

“My thoughts and prayers are with all the people affected by these floods,” Chandler said. “Our farmers were some of the hardest hit, and Kentucky’s farms are so important to our economy and our way of life in the Commonwealth.  Low-interest loans won’t fix all the damage to our farms, but they are a good first step.”

Farmers in the Sixth Congressional District should contact their local FSA Service Center to determine if they qualify for disaster relief under the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) which provides assistance to agricultural producers suffering from damage caused by the recent flooding. ECP is a cost-share assistance program administered by the Farm Service Agency to rehabilitate damaged farmlands.

Farmers who have lost livestock due to the flooding should report these losses to their local FSA Service Center within 30 days of the disaster.  These farmers may qualify for assistance under the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) which provides monetary assistance to eligible livestock owners and livestock contract growers for livestock deaths in excess of normal mortality.

Additional information about the flooding is available on Congressman Chandler’s website: http://chandler.house.gov/flooding.shtml

To find your local FSA service center, visit:  http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app
 

###