A federal disaster declaration for a county following a flood or severe storm may not bring much assistance for individual homeowners and farmers.

Thursday, July 26, 2001

A federal disaster declaration for a county following a flood or severe storm may not bring much assistance for individual homeowners and farmers. The meaning of a disaster declaration can be confusing, says Blue Earth County educator Kent Thiesse of the University of Minnesota Extension Service.

&uot;A disaster declaration usually means that local government units are eligible for federal assistance funds to help cover costs associated with the natural disaster,&uot; says Thiesse. &uot;Usually, individual homeowners and farmers in the affected counties are eligible to apply for low-interest loans. In a very serious situation such as a major tornado, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will set up a temporary office in the affected area to assist people.&uot;

Thiesse says individuals with high hopes for assistance from a disaster declaration often find there is not much help available. Farm operators who have crop and property losses due to storms or floods are typically eligible to apply for low interest Farm Service Agency emergency loans. However, these loans are often difficult to qualify for and cumbersome to apply for, says Thiesse. &uot;In most situations, there are very few FSA farm emergency loans actually distributed in the counties that receive a disaster declaration,&uot; he points out.

Disaster payments for crop losses are the biggest concern for most farm operators, says Thiesse. In recent years Congress has passed emergency farm legislation authorizing such payments. For the 2000 crop year, all farms that had a 35 percent or greater loss of crop production were eligible for a crop disaster payment. Farms did not have to be in counties that received a disaster declaration to be eligible.

Congress has not yet acted on emergency farm legislation for 2001. However, &uot;it’s highly likely that there will be another assistance package this year that will probably include crop disaster provisions very similar to the provisions for the 2000 crop year,&uot; says Thiesse.