USDA Declares 3 Northern Counties Disaster Areas Due To Frost Damage

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared three Wisconsin counties primary natural disaster areas based on a frost that came late last spring.

The frost damaged crops in Lincoln, Langlade and Marathon counties last May and June. Farmers in those three counties, as well as 11 surrounding counties, may now be eligible for emergency loans.

Kim Iczkowski, the public affairs coordinator for the Farm Service Agency in Wisconsin, said part of the reason the USDA waited seven months to declare a disaster was to monitor the frost’s effect.

“When we’re in the midsts of, say, a drought or flooding or something like that … the question is always, ‘Well, what is it going to do to the crops?’ And the answer is, we really don’t know until the combines get in the fields and harvest,” Iczkowski said.

Iczkowski said disaster declarations are not unusual.

“We’re always kind of dealing with weather. Farming is an industry that is so dependent on the weather, so these types of scenarios do happen,” she said.

Here’s a map giving an overview USDA disaster areas across the country.