Chouteau, Liberty counties named as primary natural disaster areas

Staff and wire report

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated Chouteau and Liberty counties as primary disasters area due to drought.

The secretarial natural disaster designation allows the United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency to extend emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters through emergency loans. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation or the refinance of certain debts. FSA will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.

The application deadline for Liberty County is April 11 and for Chouteau County is April 13.

The designation also makes the loans available in contiguous counties including Blaine and Hill, which already were designated as primary disaster areas.

On http://farmers.gov , the Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster Assistance-at-a-Glance fact sheet, and Farm Loan Discovery Tool can help producers determine program or loan options. To file a Notice of Loss or to ask questions about available programs, people can contact their local  USDA Service Center.

USDA last week also designated Deer Lodge, Granite, Powell and Ravalli counties as primary disaster areas due to drought.