USDA offers emergency loans to Minnesota producers

As part of the USDA’s emergency loan program, applications are open for Minnesota producers impacted by highly pathogenic avian influenza quarantines set by the Minnesota Board of Animal Health.

Joan Wozniak | iStockPhoto.com
Joan Wozniak | iStockPhoto.com

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and the quarantine restrictions that follow are financially devastating for large and small poultry producers alike – which is why emergency funding in times of disaster is so important. 

As part of the USDA’s emergency loan program, applications are open for Minnesota producers impacted by HPAI quarantines set by the Minnesota Board of Animal Health.

Producers can use the low-interest emergency loans to replace essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganize farming operations, refinance certain debts or for other operational necessities, according to the USDA website. 

Seventy Minnesota counties are eligible for the loan as well as three counties in Iowa, four counties in North Dakota, three counties in South Dakota and three counties in Wisconsin. The application deadline is March 6, 2023; producers can access all emergency loan application forms on the USDA emergency farm loans site or contact their local USDA Service Center

The USDA also provides tools to help producers apply for the correct loan: the Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster Assistance-at-a-Glance fact sheet and Farm Loan Discovery Tool.

Minnesota is the largest producer of turkey in the U.S., and according to the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, almost three million birds have been affected by HPAI in the state since March 25 – both commercial and backyard. The Board of Animal Health also recently lifted a temporary ban on poultry exhibitions in July that had been in place since April to prevent the spread of HPAI. 

To learn more about HPAI cases in North American commercial poultry flocks, see an interactive map on WATTPoultry.com.

Read our ongoing coverage of the global avian influenza outbreak.

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