Governor adds another county to drought disaster declaration

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Winnebago County has been named in a drought disaster declaration by Illinois Gov J.B. Pritzker, joining Boone, Cook, DeKalb, Kane, Lake and McHenry Counties. The disaster declaration allows counties to access emergency loans following drought conditions

Winnebago county has been added to the USDA Secretarial natural disaster designation for drought conditions impacting the growing season, allowing producers to access emergency USDA loans as they recover. Winnebago joins Boone, Cook, DeKalb, Kane, Lake and McHenry counties, which were designated in early July.

USDA natural disaster designations also include contiguous counties adding Stephenson county to the list of DuPage, Kendall, LaSalle, Lee, Ogle and Will counties. Both primary and contiguous counties are eligible for emergency assistance.

“As counties across northern Illinois counties respond to drought conditions, delaying and severely impacting planting as well as livestock producers, the state will use every resource to ensure communities can recover,” said Governor JB Pritzker.

“I am grateful to President Biden and USDA Secretary Vilsack for their quick assessment of the impact of the drought and the ability for Illinois farmers to access critical resources.”

Massive fire at Rockton Chemical Plant in Winnebago County, June 14, 2021. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania

A Secretarial natural disaster designation provides the USDA FSA to extend emergency loans to impacted producers recovering from natural disasters. Producers should contact their local USDA Service Center to ask questions or file a Notice of Loss.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture administers a Hay and Straw Directory for livestock producers impacted by the drought and needing to locate hay and straw. Producers who have hay or straw to sell are encouraged to provide their listing through the Illinois Department of Agriculture website.

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Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

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