Ag Scretary Dclares Mch of Utah a Dsaster

The U.S. agriculture secretary is making farmers and ranchers across much of Utah eligible for emergency government loans and other assistance because of bouts of extreme weather last year.

Thomas J. Vilsack signed a disaster declaration for 19 of Utah’s 29 counties.

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman asked for the federal help last November after Utah farmers sustained more than $28 million in crop and forage losses due to drought, cold temperatures, wildfires and high winds.

The counties declared primary or secondary disaster areas are: Beaver, Box Elder, Cache, Carbon, Emery, Garfield, Iron, Juab, Kane, Millard, Piute, San Juan, Sevier, Sanpete, Tooele, Utah, Washington, Wayne and Weber.