SBA makes disaster loans available to agribusiness

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  • SBA makes disaster loans available to agribusiness
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Agricultural businesses are now eligible for the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and EIDL Advance program, SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza announced earlier this month.

SBA’s EIDL portal reopened as a result of funding authorized by Congress through the Paycheck Protection Program and Healthcare

Enhancement Act. The legislation, signed into law by the President last week, provided additional funding for farmers and ranchers and certain other agricultural businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

“For more than 30 years SBA has been prohibited by law from providing disaster assistance to agricultural businesses; however, as a result of the unprecedented legislation enacted by President

Trump, American farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural businesses will now have access to emergency working capital,” Carranza said.

“These low-interest, long- term loans will help keep agricultural businesses viable while bringing stability to the nation’s vitally important food supply chains.”

Agricultural businesses include those engaged in the legal production of food and fiber, ranching, and raising of livestock, aquaculture, and all other farming and agriculture-related industries (as defined by section 18(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 647(b)). Eligible agricultural businesses must have 500 or fewer employees.

The SBA will begin accepting new EIDL applications on a limited basis only, in order to provide unprecedented relief to U.S. agricultural businesses.

For agricultural businesses that submitted an EIDL loan application through the streamlined application portal prior to the legislative change, SBA will move forward and process those applications without the need for reapplying. All other EIDL loan applications that were submitted before the portal stopped accepting new applications on April 15 will be processed on a first-in, first-out basis.

For more information, visit www.sba.gov/Disaster.