Applications for emergency farm/ranch loans for damages and losses caused by drought, above normal temperatures and associated wildfires on January 1, 2009 – December 31, 2009 are being accepted at the Farm Service Agency (FSA) office located in Uvalde, FSA Farm Loan Manager Sara K. Webb said today.

Atascosa, Blanco, Dimmit, Edwards, Frio, Gillespie, Kimble, Kinney, LaSalle and Zavala Counties are 10 of the 191 counties in Texas recently named by Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, as eligible for loans to cover part of actual production and physical losses resulting from drought, above normal temperatures and associated wildfires that occurred on January 1, 2009 – December 31, 2009.

Sara Webb said farmers/ranchers may be eligible for loans of up to 100 percent of their actual losses or the operating loan needed to continue the agricultural business, whichever is less. For farmers/ranchers unable to obtain credit from private commercial lenders, the interest is 3.75 percent.

“As a general rule, a farmer/rancher must have suffered at least a 30 percent loss of production to be eligible for an FSA emergency loan,” Webb said. Farmers/ranchers participating in the Federal Crop Insurance program will have to consider proceeds from those programs in determining their loss.

“Applications for loans under this emergency designation will be accepted until December 14, 2010, but farmers/ranchers should apply as soon as possible. Delays in applying could create backlogs in processing, with possible delays into the new farming season,” Webb said.

FSA is a credit agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It is authorized to provide disaster emergency loans to recognized farmers/ranchers who work at and rely on farming/ranching for a substantial part of their living. Eligibility is extended to individual farmers/ranchers who meet U.S. citizenship requirements and to farming partnerships, corporations or cooperatives in which U.S. citizenship requirements are met by individuals holding a majority interest.

The FSA office in Uvalde is open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The FSA office is located at 103 Weeping Willow in Uvalde, Texas.