Northeast Farmers to Get Disaster Aid for Summer Drought

Farmer in much of New England and the Northeast will be eligible for federal assistance for crop losses stemming from this summer’s drought.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated Vermont’s Windham County a natural disaster area based on crop losses caused by drought and excessive heat that started June 1.

The USDA said Friday that farmers in Bennington and Windsor counties in Vermont, Franklin County in Massachusetts and Cheshire and Sullivan counties in New Hampshire qualify for low-interest loans to help cover part of their losses.

In Maryland, The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 22 counties as natural disaster areas because of losses from summer’s drought and excessive heat.

The designation, also means farmers and ranchers in Maryland’s Harford County and Baltimore city and all three counties in Delaware also qualify for assistance because their counties are contiguous.

All qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low-interest emergency loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency, as long as eligibility requirements are met.

Farmers in eligible counties have eight months Nov. 4 to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses.