On September 9, 2024, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack notified the Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro of two disaster areas.
As Sec. Vilsack noted, in accordance with 7 CFR 759.5(a), two Pennsylvania counties are designated as primary natural disaster areas due to a recent drought. 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.
A Secretarial disaster designation makes farm operators in primary counties and those counties contiguous to such primary counties eligible to be considered for Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loan assistance, provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have 8 months from the date of a Secretarial disaster declaration to apply for emergency loans. FSA considers each emergency loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of production losses on the farm and the security and repayment ability of the operator.
The affected counties are:
- Fayette
- Westmoreland
Contiguous Counties:
- Allegheny
- Butler
- Greene
- Somerset
- Armstrong
- Cambria
- Indiana
- Washington
Local FSA offices can provide affected farmers with further information.