Join Kathy

Kathy Dahlkemper for Congress

Western Pennsylvania Farmers Eligible for Disaster Assistance through USDA

July 20, 2010

Farms in Venango, Warren and surrounding counties eligible for funding

Erie County Democratic Party

Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-3) today announced that farmers in Venango, Warren, Armstrong, Butler, Crawford, Erie and Mercer Counties are eligible to be considered for Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loans (EM) and the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE) due to a late-season frost that occurred from May 8-10, 2010.

“Farmers throughout our region were hurt by the unseasonable frost that hit in May. I encourage any farm who sustained damage due to the inclement weather from May 8th to the 10th to contact their local Farm Service Agency office to find out what type of relief you may be eligible for under this new disaster designation,” said Rep. Dahlkemper, a member of the House Committee on Agriculture.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) provides emergency loans to help producers recover from production and physical losses due to drought, flooding, other natural disasters, or quarantine. Emergency loan funds may be used to:

· Restore or replace essential property;
· Pay all or part of production costs associated with the disaster year;
· Pay essential family living expenses;
· Reorganize the farming operation; and
· Refinance certain debts.

Producers can borrow up to 100 percent of actual production or physical losses, to a maximum amount of $500,000. The SURE Program provides financial assistance for crop production or quality losses due to natural disaster. That assistance is based on a calculated formula.

The Pennsylvania State Farm Insurance Agency can be reached at (717) 237-2117. The individual county offices’ phone numbers are: