There’s nothing more devastating to a farmer than to go through all of the hard work of acquiring the tools and resources to plant a crop, nurturing the crop as the growing process gets underway and then seeing it all lost to natural disaster whether that’s a hard freeze, flooding, drought, overpowering winds or any other form of loss. Fortunately, when conditions are bad enough for the government to issue a disaster declaration there are often times opportunities to fight your way back, even for ancillary businesses tied to agriculture.
Such is the case today as the U.S. Small Business Administration has announced that Economic Injury Disaster Loans are now available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and private non-profit organizations located in Michigan as a result of excessive rain from August 26th through September 6th last year (2018).
The loans are available in our area for Allegan, Van Buren and Ottawa Counties, but also for those engaged in the business in Barry, Kalamazoo, Kent, Lake, Mason, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, and Osceola Counties.
Ken Fleming is Director of the SBA’s Field Operations Center East. He says, “When the Secretary of Agriculture issues a disaster declaration to help farmer recover from damages and losses to crops, the Small Business Administration issues a declaration to eligible entities affected by the same disaster.”
Under this declaration, the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program is available to all eligible farm-related and nonfarm-related entities that suffered financial losses as a direct result of this disaster. With the exception of aquaculture enterprises, SBA cannot provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers and ranchers.
The loan amount can be up to $2-million with interest rates of 2.5-percent for private non-profit organizations of all sizes and 3.675-percent for small businesses, with terms of up to 30 years. The SBA determines eligibility based on the size of the applicant, type of activity and its financial resources. Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based on each applicant’s financial condition. These working capital loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other bills that could have been paid had the disaster not occurred. The loans are not intended to replace lost sales or profits.
Applicants may apply online using the Electronic Loan Application by way of the SBA’s secure website by clicking this link: http://DisasterLoan.SBA.gov
Disaster loan information and application forms may also be obtained by calling the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 (800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) or by sending an e-mail to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov. Loan applications can be downloaded from the link disasterloansba.gov. Completed applications should be mailed to: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing & Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.
All completed loan applications should be submitted to the SBA no later than November 20, 2019.
