Governor DeWine is encouraging farmers in dozens of Ohio counties to seek potential relief from the U.S. Department of Agriculture following a disaster designation in their counties or contiguous counties due to rain, flooding and other weather conditions.

The disaster declaration includes Hancock County and most surrounding counties.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue designated several counties as primary natural disaster areas due to production losses caused by extreme weather that occurred during the 2019 crop year.

In June, Governor DeWine requested a USDA disaster designation for Ohio and met with farmers to hear their stories about how difficult it’s been this year.

The natural disaster designation allows the Farm Service Agency to extend much needed emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters.

Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs of essential items like equipment and livestock.

The deadline to apply for emergency loans is March 25th, 2020.