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.
Farm Service Agency:
1400 Independence Ave.
SW Washington, DC 20250
Contact:
FPAC Press Desk
FPAC.BC.Press@usda.gov