On Monday, Miami County was designated by the US Secretary of Agriculture as a primary natural disaster area due to a recent drought. Miami County joins 9 other counties in the area that have suffered drought intensity value during the growing season of either D2 Drought-Severe for 8 or more consecutive weeks or D3 Drought-Extremem or D4 Drought-Exceptional. A Secretarial disaster designation makes farm operators in primary counties and those counties contiguous to such primary counties eligible to be considered for Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loan assistance, provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have 8 months from the date of a Secretarial disaster declaration to apply for emergency loans. FSA considers each emergency loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of production losses on the farm and the security and repayment ability of the operator. Please contact the Miami County Farm Service Agency to find out about eligible programs. The office can be reached at 937-335-1918.