Agricultural producers across the Southern Plains have access to emergency credit following a secretarial natural disaster designation. This designation allows the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) to provide emergency loans to those recovering from the impacts of significant drought.
Understanding Emergency Credit and Eligibility
Emergency loans are designed to meet a variety of recovery needs. Producers can utilize these funds to replace essential items such as livestock or equipment, reorganize farming operations, or refinance specific debts. When reviewing applications, the FSA evaluates the extent of the losses, available security, and the applicant’s ability to repay the loan.
Eligibility is based on the U.S. Drought Monitor. To qualify, counties must have experienced a drought intensity value during the growing season of:
- D2 (Severe Drought) for eight or more consecutive weeks.
- D3 (Extreme Drought) or D4 (Exceptional Drought).
Impacted Areas and Deadlines
Two specific disaster triggers have been identified, impacting regions across Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. The application deadline for both triggering disasters is January 6, 2027.
Disaster Trigger #1 Primary eligibility includes Cimarron, Ellis, and Woodward counties in Oklahoma. Contiguous counties also eligible for assistance include:
- Oklahoma: Beaver, Dewey, Harper, Major, Roger Mills, Texas, and Woods.
- Colorado: Baca.
- Kansas: Morton.
- New Mexico: Union.
- Texas: Dallam, Hemphill, Lipscomb, and Sherman.
Disaster Trigger #2 Primary eligibility centers on a wide range of Texas counties, including Andrews, Armstrong, Carson, Dallam, Donley, Ector, Gray, Hansford, Haskell, Hemphill, Hill, Hutchinson, Lipscomb, Moore, Ochiltree, Potter, Randall, Roberts, Swisher, and Wheeler. Contiguous counties also eligible include:
- Oklahoma: Beaver, Beckham, Cimarron, Ellis, Roger Mills, and Texas.
- New Mexico: Lea and Union.
- Texas: Baylor, Bosque, Briscoe, Castro, Collingsworth, Crane, Deaf Smith, Ellis, Floyd, Gaines, Hale, Hartley, Johnson, Jones, King, Knox, Limestone, McLennan, Martin, Midland, Navarro, Oldham, Shackelford, Sherman, Stonewall, Throckmorton, Upton, Ward, and Winkler.
Resources for Producers
Several tools are available on farmers.gov to help producers navigate their options, including the Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, the Loan Assistance Tool, and the Disaster Assistance-at-a-Glance fact sheet. To file a Notice of Loss or to receive more information regarding available programs, producers should contact their local USDA Service Center.
