Governor Scott Walker is asking the federal government to help ginseng and soybean farmers hurt by bad weather earlier this year.
The governor this week sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, requesting disaster declarations covering ginseng crops in Lincoln and Marathon counties and soybean crops in Burnett and Polk counties.
In the letter, Governor Walker says above normal rainfall earlier this year, along with cold temperatures in September, delayed planting of crops and cut short the harvest in those areas. Walker says that resulted in crop losses as high as 75-percent for some ginseng farmers and 36-percent for soybean operations.
The disaster declarations would allow farmers in the named counties, along with adjacent locations, to apply for low-interest loans.
