Washington – U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, continued her call for disaster assistance today as 32 more Arkansas counties received federal disaster designations from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The total number of Arkansas counties now designated as primary disaster areas is 72. Lincoln has introduced legislation that would provide timely disaster assistance to farmers affected by this fall’s heavy rains, floods and other weather-related disasters.
“Arkansas farmers have experienced costly damage to their crops and many are unsure if their operations will survive another year,” said Chairman Lincoln. “These disaster declarations underscore the need to get help to our state’s hard-working farmers as soon as possible. I will continue to work to deliver assistance to our producers so that they can continue to meet our food and fiber needs while providing much-needed economic strength to our rural communities.”
A University of Arkansas’s Division of Agriculture released report estimates Arkansas crop losses for the 2009 harvest have risen to more than $300 million. This does not factor in the more than $80 million of lost wages of agriculture-related jobs. In addition to on-farm losses, the report also shows a decline of nearly $162 million in economic value-added, which encompasses soy, corn and rice processing, cotton ginning and reduced household spending by Arkansans whose incomes are tied to agriculture.
The following is a list of the 32 Arkansas counties that received Secretarial disaster designations today:
Baxter, Benton, Clark, Cleburne, Cleveland, Columbia, Crawford, Crittenden, Dallas, Franklin, Fulton, Garland, Grant, Howard, Johnson, Lawrence, Logan, Marion, Montgomery, Nevada, Newton, Ouachita, Pike, Randolph, Saline, Scott, Searcy, Sebastian, Sevier, Stone, Sharp, Van Buren.
The following is a complete list of all 72 Arkansas counties that have received Secretarial disaster designations to date:
Arkansas, Ashley, Baxter, Benton, Boone, Bradley, Calhoun, Carroll, Chicot, Clark, Clay, Cleburne, Cleveland, Columbia, Conway, Craighead, Crawford, Crittenden, Cross, Dallas, Desha, Drew, Faulkner, Franklin, Fulton, Garland, Grant, Hempstead, Hot Spring, Howard, Independence, Izard, Jefferson, Johnson, Lafayette, Lawrence, Lee, Lincoln, Little River, Logan, Lonoke, Marion, Miller, Mississippi, Monroe, Montgomery, Nevada, Newton, Ouachita, Perry, Phillips, Pike, Poinsett, Pope, Prairie, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, Scott, Searcy, Sebastian, Sevier, Sharp, St. Francis, Stone, Union, Van Buren, Washington, White, Woodruff, Yell
