Farmers in 88 Georgia counties, including Tift, eligible for aid

ATLANTA (AP) — Gov. Sonny Perdue says the U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 60 Georgia counties as disaster areas because of extreme weather conditions since March.

The designation means that farmers in the 60 counties, as well as 28 adjoining counties, are eligible for low-interest USDA loans.

The counties, all in middle and south Georgia, were granted the designation in response to the governor's requests submitted in April and July.

They are: Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Ben Hill, Berrien, Bibb, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Calhoun, Candler, Chatham, Clay, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Cook, Crawford, Crisp, Decatur, Dooly, Dougherty, Early, Echols, Effingham, Houston, Jeff Davis, Lamar, Lanier, Long, Lowndes, Macon, Marion, Miller, Mitchell, Monroe, Montgomery, Peach, Pierce, Pike, Quitman, Randolph, Seminole, Schley, Stewart, Sumter, Taylor, Terrell, Tift, Thomas, Toombs, Treutlen, Turner, Upson, Ware, Wayne, Webster, Wilcox and Worth.

In addition to those 60 counties, the USDA also designated an additional 28 counties as contiguous disaster areas, qualifying farmers for the same assistance as those in primary counties. The contiguous counties are:

Bleckley, Bulloch, Butts, Camden, Chattahoochee, Charlton, Dodge, Emanuel, Evans, Glynn, Grady, Irwin, Jasper, Johnson, Jones, Laurens, Lee, Liberty, McIntosh, Meriwether, Pulaski, Screven, Spalding, Talbot, Tattnall, Telfair, Twiggs and Wheeler.