Economic Disaster Loans Now Available for Farmers and Ranchers

SAN ANGELO, TX – The Small Business Administration will be accepting new Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and EIDL Advance applications to provide relief to U.S. agricultural businesses.

Applications will be accepted on a limited basis but provide new eligibility requirements as a result of funds appropriated by Congress in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Businesses that meet the new eligibility requirements 

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

SBA is encouraging all eligible agricultural businesses with 500 or fewer employees wishing to apply to begin preparing their business financial information needed for their application.

Currently, only agricultural business applications will be accepted due to limitations in funding availability and the unprecedented submission of applications already received.

Agricultural businesses that submitted an EIDL application through the streamlined application portal before the legislative change do not need to re-apply; SBA will be processing those applications as well.

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.

There is one exception to the rule limiting new applications to agricultural businesses. 

Any business that applied in the early rounds of EIDL applications and received an application # starting with “2” (i.e., before 3/30 when the EIDL application platform was unstable), you should re-apply now to have your previously submitted application recognized and processed in the order submitted.