Drought Assistance Available in Dorchester

The last 40 acres of soybeans Stanley Gruber planted didn't come up. 

"It's pretty rough," Gruber said. Gruber owns Gruber CSA Farms in St. George, which has a stand at . "The heat is as bad as the drought is ... (and) nothing's a-growing." 

Gruber may be one of the Dorchester County farmers seeking assistance through either the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the U.S. Small Business Administration's federal economic injury disaster loans, which are now available to small businesses, agriculture cooperatives and more in the county.

The drought has been in effect since Jan. 1.

According to the state Climatology Office, Dorchester County remains in an "incipient" or developing drought, like much of the state's Lowcountry and Midlands. Some of the Upstate is suffering from moderate and severe droughts. 

The USDA declared drought assistance earlier this month. Click here to find out more about it.

Under the SBA's July 23 declaration, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program is available to eligible farm-related and non farm-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, or rancher. Nurseries are eligible to apply for economic injury disaster loans for losses caused by drought conditions.

The loan amount can be up to $2 million with interest rates of 3 percent for private non-profit organizations of all sizes and 4 percent for small businesses, with terms 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 (ELA) via SBA’s secure website.

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 email to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov. Loan applications can be downloaded from www.sba.gov.

Completed applications should be mailed to: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing andDisbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.
Completed loan applications must be returned to SBA no later than March 12, 2013.