USDA Declares Disaster Designation for Local Counties
Calhoun, Cherokee, DeKalb, Etowah, and Marshall Counties Included
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Farmers in Cherokee, Etowah, Calhoun, DeKalb, and Marshall counties are now eligible for federal disaster assistance following a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) designation of 25 Alabama counties as primary natural disaster areas.
The designation, announced by Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate, comes after excessive rainfall between May 1 and June 30 severely impacted planting across much of Alabama. The four counties in northeast Alabama are among the hardest hit.
“The excessive rain during this year’s planting season impacted over half of Alabama’s counties, causing delays or preventing planting altogether,” Pate said. “We recognize the hardships our farmers have faced with the late spring flooding and now the current drought. We encourage them to reach out to their local USDA offices to explore available funding and support.”
The disaster designation makes farm operators in Cherokee, Etowah, Calhoun, and DeKalb eligible to apply for Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loans. Farmers in contiguous counties also qualify for assistance. Loan applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the extent of production losses, repayment ability, and collateral.
Producers have eight months from the September 15 disaster declaration to apply for loans. Farmers interested in learning more about program options or verifying eligibility can visit fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/farm-loan-programs
USDA Designates 25 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 25 Alabama counties as primary natural disaster areas due to loss caused by excessive rainfall from May 1 through June 30, 2025. Fourteen additional counties were listed as contiguous disaster counties.
“The excessive rain during this year’s planting season impacted over half of Alabama’s counties, causing delays or preventing planting altogether,” said Commissioner Pate. “We recognize the hardships our farmers have faced with the late spring flooding and now the current drought. We encourage them to reach out to their local USDA offices to explore available funding and support.”
The 25 primary Alabama counties included in the disaster designation are Blount, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Cleburne, Colbert, Coosa, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Franklin, Madison, Jackson, Marion, Lawrence, Marshall, Limestone, Morgan, Macon, Russell, St. Clair, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Walker and Winston. The 14 contiguous Alabama counties included are Barbour, Bullock, Chilton, Clay, Elmore, Fayette, Jefferson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lee, Montgomery, Randolph, Shelby and Tuscaloosa. For a total of 39 counties in Alabama.
Other counties in Alabama may have already been designated as natural disaster counties if they had previously met the requirements found under 7 CFR 759.5(a) for the current crop year.
A Secretarial disaster designation makes farm operators in primary counties and 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 a Secretarial disaster declaration (September 15, 2025) to apply for emergency loans. FSA considers each emergency loan application on its own merits, taking into account 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.
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