WALTONVILLE, Ill. — Gov. Pat Quinn held up two scrawny ears of corn, clear evidence of what Mother Nature has done to more than half of the state’s 2012 crop.

“This is a natural disaster of epic proportions,” said Quinn, standing on 71-year-old James Laird’s farm in southern Illinois last week. “This is the driest time that we’ve ever had in our state of Illinois, and the hottest weather.

“We’ve got to come together and help our neighbor, because Illinois, we’re a mighty agricultural state. We are the heart of the Heartland. We feed our country. We feed our world.”

The governor ventured south of Chicago for the first time in more than six weeks – something welcomed by protesters opposed to the governor’s shuttering of several state facilities as part of budget cuts – to highlight that some state assistance is available for struggling farmers.

As of July 20, a total of 33 Illinois counties were tabbed as federal disaster areas and qualify for USDA low-interest loans at 2.25 percent. The U.S. Drought Monitor has rated the southern portion of the state, along with southeastern Missouri, southern and central Indiana and western Kentucky, as being in extreme drought. Nationally, parts of 34 states and nearly 2,000 counties met the USDA definition of disaster areas.

For Illinoisans such as Mark Kash, a Jefferson County farmer who does not have crop insurance this year, the assistance is needed. “Whenever you put $200,000 out there in the fields and you’re not going to get anything back, it makes you sick,” he said.

Illinois Farm Bureau President Phil Nelson called current conditions a “travesty” and predicted this year’s corn and soybean crops will turn out to be the most expensive on record.

Bob Flider, acting director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, urged farmers in financial need to contact their Farm Services Agency office, and to visit the new website at www.drought.illinois.gov

He noted there is an Illinois Hay Exchange program that could help livestock farmers in need of additional feed. Flider also explained Illinois Finance Authority will partner with local banks to activate loan programs statewide to speed up support to eligible farmers.

The first program is the Agricultural Restructuring Debt Guarantee, which provides an 85 percent guarantee with a term up to 30 years on a local bank loan of up to $500,000. It can be used to consolidate existing debt and spread payments out over a longer period.

A second program, the Working Capital Degree, provides an 85 percent guarantee with a commitment up to three years on a local bank loan of up to $250,000. It is used for input costs. A third option is the Agricultural Loan Participation Program, which provides for the finance authority to buy up to $500,000 of a customer’s bank loan to reduce the interest rate, with a loan term of up to 10 years.

Rural Development Loans, through the USDA, also are available, Quinn noted. Those loans range from $50,000-$250,000 for economic development financing in towns with populations of 25,000 or fewer.