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USDA Designates 150 Texas Counties as Primary Natural Disaster Areas Due to Qualifying Drought

This Secretarial natural disaster designation allows the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) to extend much-needed emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters through emergency loans. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation, or to refinance certain debts. FSA will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available, and repayment ability.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 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.

Impacted Area: Texas

Triggering Disaster #1: Drought (Fast Track)

Application Deadline: November 17, 2023

Primary Counties Eligible:

Andrews	Atascosa	Austin	Bailey
Bandera	Bell	Bexar	Blanco
Borden	Bosque	Briscoe	Brooks
Brown	Burnet	Caldwell	Callahan
Carson	Castro	Childress	Clay
Cochran	Coke	Coleman	Collingsworth
Colorado	Comal	Comanche	Concho
Cooke	Coryell	Cottle	Crosby
Dallam	Dawson	Deaf Smith	Dickens
Dimmit	Duval	Eastland	Edwards
Erath	Falls	Fayette	Fisher
Floyd	Foard	Frio	Gaines
Garza	Gillespie	Glasscock	Gonzales
Gray	Grayson	Guadalupe	Hale
Hall	Hamilton	Hansford	Hardeman
Hartley	Haskell	Hays	Hemphill
Hidalgo	Hill	Howard	Hutchinson
Jim Hogg	Jim Wells	Jones	Kendall
Kenedy	Kent	Kerr	Kimble
King	Kinney	Kleberg	Knox
Lamb	Lampasas	Lavaca	Limestone
Lipscomb	Llano	Lubbock	Lynn
McCulloch	McLennan	Martin	Mason
Maverick	Medina	Menard	Midland
Milam	Mills	Mitchell	Montague
Moore	Motley	Nolan	Ochiltree
Oldham	Palo Pinto	Parker	Parmer
Potter	Randall	Real	Roberts
Robertson	Runnels	San Saba	Scurry
Shackelford	Sherman	Starr	Stephens
Sterling	Stonewall	Swisher	Taylor
Terry	Tom Green	Travis	Uvalde
Val Verde	Washington	Webb	Wheeler
Wichita	Wilbarger	Williamson	Wilson
Yoakum	Zapata	Zavala

Contiguous Counties Also Eligible:

Archer	Armstrong	Bastrop	Baylor
Brazos	Burleson	Cameron	Collin
Crockett	Denton	DeWitt	Donley
Ector	Ellis	Fannin	Fort Bend
Freestone	Grimes	Hockley	Hood
Irion	Jack	Jackson	Johnson
Karnes	La Salle	Lee	Leon
Live Oak	McMullen	Madison	Navarro
Nueces	Reagan	San Patricio	Schleicher
Throckmorton	Upton	Victoria	Waller
Wharton	Willacy	Winkler	Wise
Young

New Mexico: Curry, Lea, Quay, Roosevelt, and Union

Oklahoma: Beaver, Beckham, Bryan, Cimmaron, Cotton, Ellis, Harmon, Jackson, Jefferson, Love, Marshall, Roger Mills, Texas, and Tillman

Triggering Disaster #2: Drought (Fast Track)

Application Deadline: November 24, 2023

Primary Counties Eligible: La Salle

Contiguous Counties Also Eligible: Atascosa, Dimmit, Duval, Frio, McMullen and Webb

Triggering Disaster #3: Drought (Fast Track)

Application Deadline: December 7, 2023

Primary Counties Eligible: Armstrong and Sutton

Contiguous Counties Also Eligible: Briscoe, Carson, Crockett, Donley, Edwards, Gray, Kimble, Menard, Potter, Randall, Schleicher, Swisher, and Val Verde

Triggering Disaster #4: Drought (Fast Track)

Application Deadline: December 14, 2023

Primary Counties Eligible: Donley

Contiguous Counties Also Eligible: Armstrong, Briscoe, Carson, Collingsworth, Gray, Hall, and Wheeler

Triggering Disaster #5: Drought (Fast Track)

Application Deadline: January 8, 2024

Primary Counties Eligible: Ector, Hockley, and Schleicher

Contiguous Counties Also Eligible: Andrews, Bailey, Cochran, Concho, Crane, Crockett, Hale, Irion, Kimble, Lamb, Lubbock, Lynn, Menard, Midland, Sutton, Terry, Tom Green, Upton, Ward, Winkler, and Yoakum

Triggering Disaster #6: Drought (Fast Track)

Application Deadline: January 16, 2024

Primary Counties Eligible: Crockett, Pecos, and Terrell

Contiguous Counties Also Eligible: Brewster, Crane, Irion, Jeff Davis, Reagan, Reeves, Schleicher, Sutton, Upton, Val Verde, and Ward

Triggering Disaster #7: Drought (Fast Track)

Application Deadline: January 16, 2024

Primary Counties Eligible: Winkler

Contiguous Counties Also Eligible: Andrews, Ector, Loving, and Ward

New Mexico: Lea

More Resources

On farmers.gov, the Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster Assistance-at-a-Glance fact sheet, and Loan Assistance Tool can help you determine program or loan options. To file a Notice of Loss or to ask questions about available programs, contact your local USDA Service Center.