FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 4, 2005, 3:00 p.m. CT

(Lincoln, NE) Gov. Dave Heineman received notice today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has agreed to designate 13 Nebraska counties as disaster areas due to ongoing drought and other damaging weather events.

“This designation is important to Nebraska’s producers whose crops and pastures were negatively impacted by freezing temperatures, hail, diseases and the continuing drought,” Gov. Heineman said. “It allows our farmers and ranchers some financial flexibility.”

The 13 Nebraska counties approved for disaster designations are Chase, Cheyenne, Deuel, Dundy, Furnas, Garden, Hayes, Hitchcock, Morrill, Perkins, Red Willow, Scotts Bluff and Sioux. USDA found insufficient yield losses in nine additional counties the Governor included in his July disaster declaration request.

However, counties contiguous to the 13 disaster-designated counties are eligible for assistance. USDA-declared contiguous disaster counties are Arthur, Banner, Box Butte, Dawes, Frontier, Gosper, Grant, Harlan, Keith, Kimball, Lincoln, Phelps and Sheridan.

An agricultural disaster designation provides producers with access to an emergency low-interest loan program. The designation also opens the door to the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) disaster set-aside program, which allows existing FSA direct loan borrowers to set aside their FSA loan payment if they cannot make the payment as a result of the disaster. It also unlocks access to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program for businesses impacted by disaster and provides documentation for the Internal Revenue Service to allow producers to defer income on disaster-forced livestock sales.

“I have personally spoken with cattle producers in western Nebraska who are still culling herds due to the drought’s long-term impact on their pastures,” Gov. Heineman said. “Hopefully these designations will provide some additional options as they make herd and pasture management decisions.”