The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced today that “economic injury disaster loans are available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture, and private nonprofit organizations in Minnesota due to drought that began on June 22, 2021.”

Low-interest disaster loans are available in Otter Tail County. The US Secretary of Agriculture issued a disaster declaration to help farmers recover from damages and losses to crops due to the drought in much of the Midwest.

According to the SBA, due to the disaster declaration, the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program is available to eligible farm-related and nonfarm-related organizations that suffered financial losses as a direct result of the disaster. However, SBA cannot provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers, and ranchers. Nurseries are eligible to apply for economic injury disaster loans for losses caused by drought conditions.

The details of the loans are as follows:

• The loan amount can be up to $2 million with interest rates of 2.88 percent for small businesses and 2 percent for private nonprofit organizations of all sizes, with terms up to 30 years.

• The SBA determines eligibility based on the size of the applicant, type of activity and its financial resources.

• Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based on each applicant’s financial condition.

• 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.

Apply online at DisasterLoanAssistance.sba.gov/ela/s/ and applicants should apply under SBA declaration # 17100. Individuals may call the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 (800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) or by sending an email to DisasterCustomerService@sba.gov.

Loan applications can be downloaded from sba.gov/disaster.