The Farm Service Agency is accepting applications for emergency loans for Secretarial Natural Disaster Declaration No. S2700 through March 16, 2009.

These loans may be made for damages and losses to crops due to severe storms, tornadoes, torrential rainfall, flooding and flash flooding that occurred from May 30 and continuing.

Effective July 16 Rush County was designated as a natural disaster area due to being a primary county in Indiana where extensive damage was reported.

Farmers who suffered damage as a result of the disaster may apply for assistance to restore their operation to its pre-disaster condition. As a general rule, for a production loss, a farmer must have suffered at least a 30 percent loss of production to be eligible for an EM loan. Farmers participating in federal crop insurance programs will have to figure in proceeds from those programs in determining their loss.

Eligibility is extended to individual farmers who rely on farming for a substantial part of their living, are unable to obtain credit elsewhere and are U.S. citizens. The terms for EM loans vary according to the nature of the damage, available security and repayment ability.

Contact your local FSA office at 765-932-2813 for additional information or the FSA office at 812-663-8674.