By Myra Bean

Panola County was among the 20 counties designated as primary disaster areas by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture last week. The designation was due to crop losses caused by excessive rainfall and prolonged flooding between April 1 through June 30, 2018.

The local FSA (Farm Services Agency) office said the government set the minimum at 30 percent crop loss but no farmer in Panola County has reported any losses like that.

Farm operators in the designated primary counties and the counties contiguous to the primary counties are eligible to be considered for certain assistance from the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided that eligibility requirements are met. This assistance includes FSA emergency loans. Farmers in eligible areas have eight months from the date of the Secretarial disaster declaration to apply for emergency loans.

The other primary counties named in the Secretarial disaster designation include: Adams, Alcorn, Clay, DeSoto, George, Greene, Issaquena, Itawamba, Jackson, Lee, Leflore, Lowndes, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Stone, Tishomingo, Tunica, and Union.

Contiguous counties in Mississippi include: Benton, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Coahoma, Forrest, Franklin, Grenada, Hancock, Harrison, Holmes, Humphreys, Jefferson, Lafayette, Marshall, Monroe, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Pearl River, Perry, Sharkey, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tippah, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wilkinson, Yalobusha, and Yazoo. Contiguous counties and parishes in the adjacent states of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee are also included.

Farmers impacted in these areas can obtain further information from their local FSA offices at (662) 578-8045 at 175 Broome Ridge Road, Batesville.