Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., is pleased to announce that low-interest loans will be made available to farmers and ranchers suffering from severe drought.

Enzi said the USDA has determined that 12 Wyoming counties and the Wind River Reservation have sustained production losses great enough to be designated as primary natural disaster areas.

Farmers and ranchers in the primary counties will be eligible to be considered for low-interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency (FSA). The declaration also designates bordering counties as secondary disaster areas, allowing farm and ranch operators in secondary counties to apply for low-interest loans as well.

In a Sept. 18 letter, Enzi wrote Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, asking her to make the designations so farmers and ranchers would be eligible for these loans.

Primary counties include Big Horn, Campbell, Fremont, Hot Springs, Johnson, Lincoln, Natrona, Park, Sheridan, Sublette, Sweetwater and Washakie. Secondary counties include Albany, Carbon, Converse, Crook, Teton, Uinta and Weston.

For more information, please contact these Wyoming FSA offices: Big Horn County at 307.765.2663, Fremont County at 307.856.7524, Goshen County at 307.532.4880, Laramie County at 307.772.2314, Park County at 307.754.9411, Platte County at 307.322.4050, and Hot Springs and Washakie Counties at 307.347.2456.