USDA declares drought a disaster in NH and MA counties

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) declared certain counties in New Hampshire as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by a recent drought. As a result of the New Hampshire declaration, four contiguous Massachusetts counties are automatically designated as drought disaster areas including: Essex, Franklin, Middlesex and Worcester counties. A USDA declaration makes available emergency loans through the Farm Service Agency (FSA) to eligible producers to help recover from crop losses.

Farm operators in the above designated counties are encouraged to contact their local USDA FSA county office. The following link to the FSA home page includes a tab with county office contact information: https://www.fsa.usda.gov/state-offices/Massachusetts/index. A link to the Emergency Loan Program describes the program in detail with information on what a producer should bring to a conversation with FSA loan staff: https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/farm-loan-programs/emergency-farm-loans/index

Source: Massachusetts Nursery and Landscape Association