Disaster Relief for Polk County Nurseries

For nurseries in Polk County that may have experienced adverse economic injury from the spring drought, the following announcement may be important. Secretary of Agriculture Declaration Deadline Approaching in Florida for SBA Working Capital Loans ATLANTA - The U.S. Small Business Administration is reminding small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and most private non-profit organizations of all sizes that Jan. 2, 2014 is the filing deadline for federal economic injury disaster loans in Florida as a result of the drought between March 5 and April 29, 2013. The loans are available in the following counties: Alachua, Brevard, Citrus, Flagler, Lake, Levy, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, Sumter and Volusia. Under this declaration, the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program is available to eligible farm-related and nonfarm-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 ranchers. Nurseries are eligible to apply for economic injury disaster loans for losses caused by drought conditions. The loans are for working capital and can be up to $2 million with interest rates of 4 percent for eligible small businesses and 2.875 percent for non-profit organizations, and terms up to 30 years. Applicants may apply online using the Electronic Loan Application (ELA) via SBA’s secure website at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela. 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 the SBA’s website at www.sba.gov/disaster. Completed applications should be mailed to: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155. Completed loan applications must be returned to SBA no later than January 2, 2014.