Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue announced on Wednesday that the USDA will put special procedures in place to assist producers who lost crops or livestock or had other damage to their operation because of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. USDA will also provide loan flexibility to assist farm loan borrowers because the damage was so widespread and severe. Perdue said the impact will be felt for many months down the road. “In addition to on-the-ground efforts to assist producers,” he says, “we’ve adjusted our regular reporting requirements so producers can take care of pressing needs first and deal with paperwork and claims later.” The USDA Farm Service Agency is authorizing emergency procedures on a case-by-case basis for crop and livestock producers in the affected counties. Farm-loan borrowers who’ve received primary loan servicing applications may be eligible for a 60-day extension. USDA also lengthened deadlines for many of their programs, including the Marketing Assistance Loan Program and the Farm Storage Facility Loan Program. The deadlines to file a loss under the Livestock Indemnity Program and the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program are also extended. Farmers are encouraged to carefully document their losses from the storms.