In its largest set of declarations since mid-May, the USDA designated 101 counties in the Midwest and West as natural disaster areas due to drought. The designations make farmers and ranchers eligible for USDA emergency loans to covers such needs as the replacement of equipment and livestock or financial reorganization.
Hawaii County, covering the Big Island of Hawaii, also was named a natural disaster area due to drought. Persistent drought blankets the U.S. West, much of the Plains, and the upper Midwest.
To qualify for a USDA emergency loan, producers generally must suffer crop losses of at least 30 percent or a loss of livestock or other property, according to a USDA fact sheet. Borrowers usually are required to buy crop insurance. The maximum loan is $500,000.
The new round of designations include 20 counties in Idaho; 17 in South Dakota; 14 in Washington State; nine in Oregon; eight in Montana; six in Illinois; five in Iowa; four each in Oklahoma and Nebraska; three apiece in Wisconsin and Texas; two each in California, North Dakota, and Wyoming; and one each in Utah and Hawaii.
In early May, the USDA named 372 counties as disaster areas due to drought. On May 19, 30 additional counties were designated.
The USDA lists its emergency designations here.