USDA Designates 597 Counties in 2013 as Disaster Areas Due to Drought: Oklahoma included

Agricultural producers in all 77 Oklahoma counties are eligible for low-interest emergency loans due to the ongoing drought.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture designated 76 of Oklahoma’s 77 counties as primary natural disaster areas because of the drought. Wednesday’s declaration makes farmers in the areas eligible for low-interest emergency loans of 2.15 percent. Although Ottawa County was not designated as a primary disaster area, ag producers there are also eligible because the county is contiguous to those in the primary disaster declaration.

 

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack designated 597 counties in 14 states as primary natural disaster areas in the declaration. These are the first disaster designations made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2013.

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