XENIA, Ohio — The persistent rainfall last spring, combined with excessive heat over the summer, led to the naming of 49 counties in Ohio as Primary Disaster Areas by the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA).

According to the FSA, the determination was made based on the excessive rain, high winds, flooding, flash flooding, tornadoes and high winds that occurred between Feb. 2-July 31.

Primary designated counties are Adams, Fairfield, Jackson, Morgan, Stark, Allen, Franklin, Lake, Muskingum, Summit, Ashtabula, Gallia, Lawrence, Noble, Trumbull, Athens, Geauga, Licking, Ottawa, Tuscarawas, Belmont, Greene, Logan, Paulding, Van Wert, Butler, Guernsey, Lorain, Perry, Vinton, Champaign, Hamilton, Lucas, Portage, Warren, Clinton, Hardin, Medina, Putnam, Washington, Coshocton, Highland, Mercer, Sandusky, Wayne, Crawford, Hocking, Monroe and Seneca.

Shelby County in west-central Ohio and 37 others have been declared contiguous disaster areas. “It’s been tough going in this area,” said recently retired Ohio State University extension specialist Roger Bender, of Shelby County. “First we were hit with a very wet spring, but since then it’s been a lack of rain in this and adjacent counties. The weather forecasters in this area said we’d go from one extreme to another and they were right on target.”

Since his retirement just a few weeks ago, Bender has kept a watchful eye on the progress of his own corn and soybeans. “There are other farmers in this part of the state that might get 55 bushels per acre of soybeans, but I’ll be lucky to get 40 this season.”

Other designated counties in the vicinity of Shelby are Darke, Auglaize, Miami, Montgomery and Preble. Other counties receiving this designation are Ashland, Henry, Meigs, Ross, Defiance, Holmes, Scioto, Brown, Delaware, Huron, Carroll, Erie, Jefferson, Morrow, Union, Clark, Fayette, Knox, Pickaway, Wood, Clermont, Fulton, Madison, Pike, Wyandot, Colum-bia, Hancock, Mahoning, Cuyahoga, Harrison, Marion and Richland.

“I have always told farmers they don’t need to go to Las Vegas or Reno to gamble, because when they plant their seed they’re gambling on their crop,” Bender said. “They have to gamble whether to take out crop insurance or not, or what level of crop insurance to get.”

With this disaster designation, farmers in these 86 counties are eligible to be considered for assistance from the Farm Service Agency (FSA) for emergency loans as well as the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments (SURE) program. Claimants have eight months from the date of disaster declaration to apply for emergency loan assistance.

“Ohio producers whose livelihood is threatened by no fault of their own deserve relief,” said Ohio Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown. “The USDA disaster designation is the right decision for Ohio’s farmers and for our state’s largest industry.”

Some other states within the Farm World readership area (Indiana, Michigan and Kentucky) qualify for natural disaster benefits because their counties are contiguous to some of Ohio’s.

In Indiana those include Adams, Allen, Dearborn, DeKalb, Franklin, Steuben, Union and Wayne. Counties in Kentucky are Boone, Bracken, Campbell, Greenup, Kenton, Lewis, Mason and Pendleton. In Michigan, they are Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.

Drought-like conditions varied from county to county in Ohio this summer but those in west-central Ohio received less than 0.82 inch of rain from mid-June to mid-July. Weather authorities blame it on the La Nina weather pattern.

For more details or to apply for assistance, contact your local FSA office or visit http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov