USDA Designates 12 Counties As Primary Natural Disaster Areas For Drought
This secretarial natural disaster designation allows the USDA 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.
Triggering Disaster #1 Impacted Area: Montana Triggering Disaster: Drought Application Deadline: March 16, 2026 Primary counties eligible: Montana: Daniels, Garfield, McCone, Mineral, Missoula, Phillips, Roosevelt, Sanders and Valley Contiguous counties also eligible: Idaho: Bonner, Clearwater, Idaho and Shoshone Montana: Blaine, Custer, Dawson, Fergus, Flathead, Granite, Lake, Lincoln, Petroleum, Powell, Prairie, Ravalli, Richland, Rosebud and Sheridan North Dakota: McKenzie and Williams Triggering Disaster #2 Impacted Area: Montana Triggering Disaster: Drought Application Deadline: March 16, 2026 Primary Counties Eligible: Montana: Hill, Liberty and Toole Contiguous counties also eligible: Montana: Blaine, Chouteau, Glacier and Pondera
