Jones County and the surrounding areas have been declared primary natural disaster areas by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), due to crop losses by severe spring and fall flooding and summer drought.

The USDA designated 79 of Mississippi’s 82 counties, as well as contiguous counties in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee disaster areas for weather incidents that occurred in 2008. Randy Lowery, executive director of the Jones County USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA), said Wednesday that Jones County has suffered additional losses in 2009, but farmers can only receive assistance for last year’s losses as of press time.

“Last year, we had a lot of rain in the harvest season,” Lowery said. “We had some good crops, but we had some real poor crops. One producer lost all of his soybeans because they rotted in the field.”

The Mississippi State University Agricultural Extension Service estimates that Mississippi’s five largest crops — soybeans, corn, cotton, rice and sweet potatoes — totaled losses of more than $459.4 million, according to the Associated Press.

Lowery said farmer in 2009 suffered even more excessive losses.

“June was the driest in many years,” he said. “When it got to harvest time, it rained every day. All of the cotton was rotted and they couldn’t cut hay. The same producer who lost all of his soybeans last year lost everything again this year. He was cutting the beans, but nobody would buy them.”

Lowery said rain this fall “really, really hurt everybody.”

“There are a lot of peanuts grown in this area,” he said. “The yield’s been pretty low on them. Cotton has taken a hard hit. Soybeans are molding in the field.”

Lowery said that in order for a county in Mississippi to be declared a primary disaster area, a report must be submitted to Governor Haley Barbour. The county must also show at least a 30 percent loss in crops.

In a statement to the Associated Press Tuesday, Barbour said, “While I am pleased these areas can qualify for much-needed assistance, we have to understand this crop disaster will continue to put downward pressure on tax revenues. The important agriculture sector faces a long road to recovery, just as does the state’s economy as a whole.”

The joint offices of U.S. Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) also announced bipartisan legislation Friday to offer assistance to farmers throughout the nation who are experiencing significant crop losses due to excessive rainfall this fall.

Cochran, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said, “The extraordinary amounts of rain poured on the Mississippi Delta have caused significant crop losses throughout the region. Sweet potatoes, grain sorghum, soybeans and cotton harvests have been compromised to an extent that the financial survival of many producers is uncertain. Existing Department of Agriculture disaster aid programs cannot provide the near-term help needed by growers. The Direct Payment mechanism, which has been used to provide assistance numerous times, is the only way for the Department of Agriculture to provide timely assistance.”

Added Wicker, an original co-sponsor of the measure. “What was looking like a bumper crop for many Mississippi farmers in August has turned into enormous losses totaling nearly half a billion dollars statewide. These excessive losses have made it nearly impossible for many hardworking Mississippi farmers to pay their bills or to prepare for planting next year. The hardship caused by the excessive September and October rains will be felt beyond Mississippi’s agriculture community. This disaster will have a negative effect on our entire economy. The enormity of this problem has made it clear that additional disaster assistance is necessary.”

The counties and parishes were designated natural disaster areas on November 13, making all qualified farm operators in the designated areas eligible for low interest emergency (EM) loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses. FSA will consider each loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability. FSA has a variety of programs, in addition to the EM loan program, to help eligible farmers recover from adversity.

USDA has also made other programs available to assist farmers and ranchers, including the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE), which was approved as part of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008; the Emergency Conservation Program; Federal Crop Insurance; and the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program. Interested farmers may contact their local USDA Service Centers for further information on eligibility requirements and application procedures for these and other programs.