Wednesday, November 15, 2023–7:35 a.m.
-USDA Farm Service Agency-
The United States Department of Agriculture has designated four Georgia counties as disaster areas due to the drought.
This Secretarial natural disaster designation allows the United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency 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.
The primary counties include Chattooga, Dade, Walker and Catoosa.
Contiguous counties also eligible include Floyd, Gordon and Whitfield.
Cherokee, DeKalb and Jackson Counties in Alabama are also eligible.
The application deadline is Jul. 1, 2024.
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.