Relief is being made available for drought stricken farmers in three East Texas counties. The United States Department of Agriculture is accepting applications for emergency farm loans for damages and losses caused by drought occurring through Sept. 29, 2015 and continuing. The applications are being accepted at the Farm Service Agency, 4209 Republic Drive. Residents of Anderson, Cherokee, Henderson, Smith and Van Zandt counties are eligible to apply. According to the news release, farmers may be eligible for loans of up to 100% of their actual losses or the operating loan needed to continue the agricultural business, whichever is less. For farmers unable to obtain credit from private commercial lenders, the interest rate is 3.625 percent. “As a general rule, a farmer must have suffered at least a 30% loss of crop production or suffered any physical loss to be eligible for an FSA emergency loan under the disaster designation,” Smith County Farm Loan Manager Joseph Grier said. Producers participating in the Federal Crop Insurance Program will have to consider proceeds from those programs in determining their production loss. Additionally, any insurance proceeds received by producers as a result of the physical loss must be considered in determining their total loss. “Applications for loans under this emergency designation will be accepted until June 7, 2016, but farmers should apply as soon as possible. Delays in applying could create backlogs in processing, with possible delays into the new farming seasons.” Grier said. Source - http://www.tylerpaper.com