MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries Rick Pate announced that USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins has designated a total of 19 Alabama counties as primary natural disaster areas due to recent drought.

“The drought severely affected several Alabama’s counties, impacting row-crop yields and forage availability. Many cattle producers were unable to harvest sufficient hay for the winter months which resulted in the need to provide supplemental alternative feed sources earlier in the fall. They were also delayed in planting winter grazing due to lack of moisture in the soil,” said Commissioner Pate. “These drought-related challenges have been tough on our farmers. We strongly encourage producers to contact their local USDA offices to learn more about available assistance, resources and support programs.”

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor (see http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/), 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 19 primary Alabama counties included in the disaster designation are Barbour, Bibb, Butler, Chambers, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Escambia, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Lee, Monroe, Pickens, Pike, Shelby and Tuscaloosa.

Per section 321(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, additional area of Alabama and adjacent states are named as contiguous disaster counties. Other counties in Alabama may have already been designated as natural disaster counties if they had previously met the requirements found under 7 CFR 759.5(a) for the current crop year.

The contiguous Alabama counties included are Baldwin, Bullock, Chilton, Clarke, Colbert (contiguous to declared county in Mississippi), Coosa, Fayette, Franklin (contiguous to declared county in Mississippi), Greene, Hale, Jefferson, Lamar, Lauderdale (contiguous to declared county in Tennessee & Mississippi), Lowndes, Macon, Montgomery, Perry, Randolph, Russell, St. Clair, Sumter, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Walker and Wilcox.

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 eight months from the date of a Secretarial disaster declaration (August 29, 2026) 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.

Farmers interested in learning about program options or wanting to verify eligibility should visit https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/farm-loan-programs. Find your local USDA Service Center at https://www.farmers.gov/working-with-us/service-center-locator.