Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries Rick Pate has announced that US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has designated 20 counties in Alabama as primary natural disaster areas due to a recent drought with an additional eighteen counties listed as contiguous disaster counties. The US Drought monitor noted these counties are in D-2 status for eight or more consecutive weeks, with some counties in D-3 and D-4 status. Commissioner Pate said, “The drought affected over half of the counties in Alabama. We encourage farmers to reach out to their local USDA offices for details about available funding.”
The 20 primary Alabama counties included in the disaster designation are Autauga, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke, Dallas, Franklin, Greene, Hale, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Lowndes, Madison, Marengo, Morgan, Perry, Sumter, Washington, Wilcox and Winston. There are 18 contiguous counties including Baldwin, Bibb, Butler, Colbert, Coosa, Crenshaw, Cullman, Elmore, Jackson, Marion, Marshall, Mobile, Monroe, Montgomery, Pickens, Shelby, Tuscaloosa and Walker.