A Secretarial natural disaster designation allows the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) to extend 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, the following counties suffered from a drought during the growing season with an intensity value of 1) D2 Drought-Severe for 8 or more consecutive weeks, or 2) D3 Drought-Extreme, or D4 Drought-Exceptional.

The application deadline is Dec. 15.

Primary counties eligible:

• State: Nebraska: Counties include Adams, Antelope, Arthur, Banner, Boone, Box Butte, Boyd, Buffalo, Butler, Cedar, Chase, Cherry, Cheyenne, Clay, Colfax, Custer, Dawes, Dawson, Deuel, Dixon, Dundy, Frontier, Furnas, Garden, Garfield, Gosper, Grant, Greeley, Hall, Hamilton, Hayes, Hitchcock, Holt, Hooker, Howard, Kearney, Keith, Kimball, Knox, Lincoln, Loup, McPherson, Madison, Merrick, Morrill, Nance, Perkins, Phelps, Pierce, Platte, Polk, Red Willow, Scotts Bluff, Seward, Sheridan, Sherman, Sioux, Valley, Wayne, Wheeler, York.

Contiguous counties also eligible:

• State: Nebraska: Counties include Blaine, Brown, Cuming, Dakota, Dodge, Fillmore, Franklin, Harlan, Keya Paha, Lancaster, Logan, Nuckolls, Rock, Saline, Saunders, Stanton, Thomas, Thurston, Webster.
• State: Colorado: Counties include Logan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Weld, Yuma.
• State: Kansas: Counties include Cheyenne, Decatur, Norton, Rawlins.
• State: South Dakota: Counties include Bennett, Bon Homme, Charles Mix, Clay, Fall River, Gregory, Oglala Lakota, Todd, Tripp, Union, Yankton.
• State: Wyoming: Goshen, Laramie, Niobrara.

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.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

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