Maine agribusinesses may find relief from drought with new disaster relief loans
Despite July’s rain, Maine’s longstanding drought continues to affect farm-related businesses. Newly available Small Business Administration funds could help.
In nine Maine counties, farm-related entities that have suffered financial losses as a result of the drought may be eligible for low-interest loans from the SBA, the agency recently announced. The counties are Androscoggin, Aroostook, Franklin, Kennebec, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset and Waldo.
Maine officially declared a drought on June 22. On Tuesday Gov. Janet Mills issued a statement saying, “This summer Maine has seen some of the warmest and driest weather on record, resulting in droughts that damaged crops for many local farmers. I encourage any Maine business impacted by drought conditions in the eligible counties to see if they qualify for an economic injury disaster loan from the Small Business Association and to apply for direct financial relief today.”
The drought hasn't affected all Maine farmers, but its impact is well understood.
Buck Farms, which grows grain and operates Maine Malthouse near Presque Isle, is seeing a great crop this year due to July’s rain. The last few weeks have been drier than usual, but that’s good for the grain, says Jake Buck.
Buck said he wasn’t aware of any farmers in the Presque Isle region being affected by this year’s drought yet, but said last year’s drought had a big negative impact on Aroostook County farmers. He said the area’s broccoli and cauliflower, major crops for the region, could be greatly affected by the current lack of rain since this coming week is critical for them.
Eligible businesses, which include small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives and private nonprofit organizations may apply for EIDLs of up to $2 million with interest rates of 2.88% for small businesses and 2% for private nonprofit organizations of all sizes, with terms up to 30 years.
These working capital loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that could have been paid had the disaster not occurred. The loans are not intended to replace lost sales or profits.
Eligible entities must submit completed loan applications to the SBA no later than April 13, 2022. Loan applications can be found at sba.gov/disaster.
The SBA offered similar loans for last year’s drought, which significantly impacted Maine’s agriculture sector.
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