(HELENA)– Governor Greg Gianforte announced Friday that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently designated five Montana counties as primary natural disaster areas due to drought.
In a letter received from USDA Undersecretary Brooke Appleton, the governor was notified that the following counties were designated, having experienced severe or extreme drought during the growing season: Dawson, Richland, Roosevelt, Sheridan, and Wibaux.
Additional counties were designated as contiguous to the primary counties impacted, including: Daniels, Fallon, McCone, Prairie, and Valley.
The disaster designation makes farm operators eligible to be considered for Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loan assistance, provided eligibility requirements are met. FSA considers each emergency loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of production losses on the farm and the repayment ability of the operator.
