Thirty counties in Alabama have been designated as Natural Disaster Areas due to the recent drought. Twelve additional contiguous counties have been listed as disaster counties.
Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture Rick Pate said, “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. We appreciate USDA recognizing the severity of these conditions and providing this disaster designation so producers have access to emergency assistance.”
The designated counties experienced drought intensity of D2 Drought-Severe, D3 Drought-Extreme or D4 Drought-Exceptional. According to the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries, “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.“
The 30 primary counties include: 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 contiguous counties include Autauga, Baldwin, Bibb, Chilton, Clay, Coosa, Dallas, Mobile, Perry, Pickens, Randolph and Tuscaloosa.
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.
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet.