From the US Small Business Administration (May 12, 2020)

The Small Business Administration has just reopened its portal for agriculture businesses to apply for an SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL)/Advance. SBA’s EIDLs are designed to provide working capital to help the business meet their ordinary and necessary financial obligations that cannot be met because of the Coronavirus’ economic disruption.  Interested applicants should go to the portal and apply as soon as possible.

The streamlined application does not require any paperwork to be submitted at the time of applying.  To facilitate going through the application quickly it is helpful for the applicant to have the following information ready:

  • The legal name of the business (which should match the name on the bank account)
  • The annual operating expenses for the 12 months prior to the disaster (Skip the gross sales or cost of goods sold section)
  • The number of employees (self-employed and sole proprietorships can put “1” for themselves)
  • The name of the bank, routing number and account number (once the application is submitted, the applicant cannot go back in and make corrections)

Other tips:

  • The applicant should check the box if they want a $1,000 per employee, maximum $10,000 Advance, which is a forgivable loan that does not have to be paid back
  • The applicant should make sure to check the box indicating that they are not a robot
  • The applicant should review the answers, read the statements and submit their application
  • An application number will appear which should be saved for future reference

The application is straight forward and should not take much time.  Please share this information with all local county FSA offices in your coverage area as I will follow-up with them via telephone for additional support if needed. Time is of the essence because we don’t know how long the portal will remain only open to agriculture businesses.

If there are any questions, FSA management can contact me, but the individual applicant (farmer, rancher, etc.) should call our Customer Service Center at 1 (800) 659-2955 for support with their application and all questions concerning the EIDL/EIDL Advance program.

US SBA Press Release