WASHINGTON, July 19, 2011 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 12 counties in Idaho as primary natural disaster areas due to damage and losses caused by excessive rain, flash flooding, flooding, a freeze and high winds that began Jan. 1, 2011, and continues.

“President Obama and I are committed to reducing the impact of this disaster on Idaho producers,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This designation will provide help to hundreds of Idaho farmers and ranchers who suffered significant losses to crops including canola, dry beans, peas, potatoes, sugar beets, and wheat.”

The counties are:

Ada Fremont Latah

Benewah Gem Lewis

Canyon Idaho Nez Perce

Clearwater Kootenai Shoshone

Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Idaho also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous:

Adams Jefferson Teton

Boise Lemhi Valley

Bonner Madison Washington

Clark Owyhee

Elmore Payette

Farmers and ranchers in the following counties in Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous:

Montana

Beaverhead Madison Missoula Sanders

Gallatin Mineral Ravalli

Oregon

Malheur Wallowa

Washington

Asotin Spokane Whitman

Wyoming

Teton Whitman

All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas July 18, 2011, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency (EM) loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for 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, in addition to the EM loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity.

USDA also has made other programs available to assist farmers and ranchers, including the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE), which was approved as part of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008; the Emergency Conservation Program; Federal Crop Insurance; and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program. Interested farmers may contact their local USDA Service Centers for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs. Additional information is also available online at http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.

FSA news releases are available on FSA’s website at http://www.fsa.usda.gov via the “News and Events” link.