News Releases for August 2002
August 22, 2002
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Hoeven Announces USDA Secretarial Disaster Declaration For 51 North Dakota Counties
BISMARCK, N.D. - Governor John Hoeven received notification today that U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman has designated 51 of North Dakota’s 53 counties secretarial disaster areas owing to drought, fire, diseases and weather-related crop damage. The remaining two counties, Mountrail and Williams, though not declared as disaster counties, will be eligible as contiguous disaster counties.
“Pasture and crops are devastated in many of these counties,” Hoeven said. “Drought in part of our state and flooding in others have led to this designation”
The secretarial disaster designation is based on damage assessment reports submitted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) State Emergency Board. The designations make all qualified farm operators in primary and contiguous disaster counties eligible for low-interest emergency loans from the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months to apply for the loans to help cover part of their actual losses.
Hoeven requested the designation in an August 1, 2002 letter to the Secretary Veneman. In it he stated that according to data compiled by USDA county offices, 51 counties met the criterion of 30 percent or greater crop losses.
"We continue to get calls from producers who are being forced to make tough decisions because of severe weather. We will continue our dialogue with federal officials in an effort to provide as many drought management tools as possible for our farmers and ranchers," Hoeven said.
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