09/08/06 Washington counties disaster areas

Washington Ag September 8, 2006 The USDA this week designated 12 counties in Washington primary natural disaster areas due to adverse weather conditions earlier this year, which included everything from excessive rain and heat to hail, high winds and freezing. The decision makes all qualified farm operators in the designated counties eligible for low-interest emergency loans from USDA's Farm Service Agency. The counties are Adams, Douglas, Lincoln, Walla Walla, Benton, Franklin, Okanogan, Whitman, Chelan, Grant, Spokane and Yakima. Another sixteen counties are also eligible because they are adjacent to those designated. Tanya Dostal, a Farm Loan Specialist with the Washington State FSA office says the current interest rate on emergency loans is 3.75 percent. Applicants must be unable to obtain credit elsewhere at reasonable rates and terms. Dostal: "We are not out there to compete with private lending institutions and so we do offer loans to those producers who are unable to meet regular current bank lending criteria. So if they can go to the bank and solve their needs by working with their local banker then we are not going to be able to be involved in it." FSA is accepting loan applications through May 1st of 2007. I'm Bob Hoff.