USDA Designates Johnson County as Natural Disaster Area Due to Drought

(LINCOLN, Nebraska, 7/27/2023) This stakeholder notification is to share information regarding a recent Secretarial natural disaster designation. Such designation allows the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) 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 the refinance of certain debts. FSA will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability. 

For the Secretarial designation listed below, the triggering disaster is drought. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, this county 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.

Secretarial Disaster Designation No. 5466: Primary county eligible in Nebraska: Johnson; contiguous counties eligible in Nebraska: Gage, Lancaster, Nemaha, Otoe and Pawnee. Application deadline is March 25, 2024.

More Resources
On farmers.gov, the Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster Assistance-at-a-Glance fact sheet, and Farm Loan Discovery 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.