USDA Designates 30 Alabama Counties as Primary Natural Disaster Areas

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries Rick Pate announced that USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins has designated a total of 30 Alabama counties as primary natural disaster areas due to recent drought. Twelve additional counties were listed as contiguous disaster counties.

“These drought conditions are placing significant stress on Alabama farmers and ranchers, impacting crops, pastures and livestock across much of our state. We strongly encourage producers to contact their local USDA office to learn more about available assistance, resources and support programs,” said Commissioner Pate. “We appreciate USDA recognizing the severity of these conditions and providing this disaster designation so producers have access to emergency assistance.”

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor (see http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/), these counties suffered from a drought intensity value during the growing season of 1) D2 Drought-Severe for 8 or more consecutive weeks or 2) D3 Drought-Extreme or D4 Drought-Exceptional.

The 30 primary Alabama counties included in the disaster designation are Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Choctaw, Clarke, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Elmore, Escambia, Geneva, Greene, Hale, Henry, Houston, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Monroe, Montgomery, Pike, Russell, Sumter, Tallapoosa, Washington and Wilcox.

The 12 contiguous Alabama counties included are Autauga, Baldwin, Bibb, Chilton, Clay, Coosa, Dallas, Mobile, Perry, Pickens, Randolph and Tuscaloosa.

A Secretarial disaster designation makes farm operators in primary counties and those counties contiguous to such primary counties eligible to be considered for Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loan assistance, provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have eight months from the date of the Secretarial disaster declaration to apply for emergency loans. FSA considers each emergency loan application on its own merits, considering the extent of production losses on the farm and the security and repayment ability of the operator.

Farmers interested in learning about program options or wanting to verify eligibility should visit https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/farm-loan-programs. Find your local USDA Service Center at https://www.farmers.gov/working-with-us/service-center-locator.