Mercer County included in U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s latest natural disaster declaration. The action stems from summer drought conditions. Mercer, McDonough, Fulton, and Tazewell counties are designated as primary natural disaster areas.
This follows the Illinois Farm Service Agency (FSA) authorizing emergency haying and grazing on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres for numerous Illinois counties for livestock farmers.
The permitting emergency haying and grazing applies to every Illinois county except Clay, Edwards, Fayette, Gallatin, Hamilton, Lawrence, Macoupin, Montgomery, Richland, Saline, Wabash, Wayne, and White.
According to the USDA, disaster designation from the secretary makes farm operators in primary counties and those counties contiguous to such primary counties eligible to be considered for FSA emergency loan assistance, provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have 8 months from the date of a disaster declaration to apply for emergency loans. FSA considers each emergency loan application on its own merits, considering the extent of production losses on the farm and the security and repayment ability of the operator.
Local FSA offices can provide affected farmers with further information.