By Brad Devereaux

The U.S. Department of Agriculture designated Big Horn and Park Counties in Wyoming as a primary natural disaster area due to losses caused by an early freeze that occurred during the period of Oct. 6-13, 2009.

Farm operators in Fremont, Johnson, Teton, Hot Springs, Sheridan and Washakie counties in Wyoming also qualify for natural disaster assistance because their counties are contiguous along with Big Horn, Carbon, Gallatin and Park counties in Montana.

All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas Monday, Jan. 4, 2010, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency (EM) loans from USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA), if eligibility requirements are met.

Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability. FSA has variety of programs, in addition to the EM loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity.

USDA has also made other programs available to assist farmers and ranchers, including the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE), which was approved as part of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008; the Emergency Conservation Program; Federal Crop Insurance; and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP).

To be eligible for SURE, farmers must have every insurable crop on their farm insured with federal insurance, according to Bryan Schoenfelder of the BHCFSA office in Greybull. Farmers will not be eligible to sign up for SURE in regard to losses incurred in 2009 until the fall of 2010, he said, because the program looks at national averages that are calculated after the entire crop is sold.

Interested farmers may contact the Big Horn County FSA Office at (307) 765-2663 for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for SURE and other programs. Additional information is also available online at: http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov.

For more information on EM loans, Lovell area farmers should contact the farm loan department at the Park County FSA office in Powell at 754-9411.

Requesting the declaration

The Big Horn County Commissioners voted Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009, to send a letter and resolution to Governor Dave Freudenthal seeking a disaster declaration to assist sugar beet, dry beans and alfalfa seed growers.

In a letter dated Oct. 23, Gov. Freudenthal asked Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack for assistance in securing an agri-business disaster designation in Big Horn, Park, Platte and Sheridan Counties.

Gov. Freudenthal released a statement Monday, thanking Vilsack for approving the disaster declaration request the governor made in October.
          “Secretary Vilsack’s action restores some measure of confidence to agricultural producers in Wyoming that suffered from severe weather in 2009,” the governor said.

“We were pained to watch, week after week in late 2009, the unfolding problems with the sugar beet harvest in the Big Horn Basin. A harvest estimated to be the largest ever was decimated by a freeze in early October,” the Governor said. “These disaster declarations are only one step in a long process of recovery for many farmers in the state. But they represent an important step, which opens doors for affected producers to begin seeking federal aid.”

The USDA also declared Platte County in southeast Wyoming a primary natural disaster area after hailstorms caused widespread damage to crops in the county. Albany, Converse, Goshen, Laramie and Niobrara counties have been named contiguous disaster counties.

Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) issued a statement Tuesday regarding the disaster declaration.

“The USDA’s disaster designation recognizes that farmers and ranchers in the Big Horn Basin faced tough times in 2009. Severe frosts in early October have taken a significant toll on Wyoming producers,” Barrasso said. “I’m pleased to see that farmers and ranchers in the designated counties will get the help they need,”

Ric Rodriguez, a Park County farmer and the vice chairman of the Western Sugar Board of Directors, said he didn’t know much about the emergency loan programs Tuesday, but added, “anything is going to help.”

He said it has been difficult for Lovell district farmers this year. However, refined sugar has been selling at estimated record bulk prices of $38 to $40 per ton, Rodriguez said, which will help farmers receive solid payments for the beets they were able to harvest. He said two years ago, refined sugar was selling in the $25 range.