Drought Destroys Crops in Florida, Idaho , Montana, Utah, Washington & Puerto Rico

Drought Disaster: Crop Disasters Declared for 90 U.S. counties and municipalities

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 76 additional counties across five states—Florida, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Washington—as well as 14 municipalities in Puerto Rico, as crop disaster areas due to losses caused by drought.

The disaster designations are as follows:

Drought Crop Disaster Designation #1

• Florida: Broward, Collier, Hendry, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach counties.

Drought Crop Disaster Designation #2

• Idaho: Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Clearwater, Idaho, Kootenai, Lewis, Latah, Nez Perce and Shoshone counties.
• Montana: Lincoln, Mineral, Missoula and Sanders counties.
• Washington: Pend Oreille, Spokane and Whitman counties.

Drought Crop Disaster Designation #3

• Montana: Beaverhead, Broadwater, Cascade, Chouteau, Deer Lodge, Flathead, Glacier, Granite, Jefferson, Lake, Lewis and Clark, Liberty, Lincoln, Madison, Meagher, Mineral, Missoula, Pondera, Powell, Ravalli, Sanders, Silver Bow, Teton and Toole counties.
• Idaho: Bonner, Clark, Fremont, Lemhi, Boundary, Clearwater, Idaho and Shoshone counties.

Drought Crop Disaster Designation #4

• Puerto Rico: Aguas Buenas, Caguas, Canovanas, Carolina, Cayey, Cidra, Gurabo, Juncos, Las Piedras, Patillas, San Juan, San Lorenzo, Trujillo Alto and Yabucoa municipalities.

Drought Crop Disaster Designation #5

• Utah: Duchesne, Salt Lake, Summit, Utah and Wasatch counties.

Drought Crop Disaster Designation #6

• Washington:  Chelan, Douglas, Ferry, Grant, Lincoln, Okanogan, Pend Oreille, Skagit, Spokane, Stevens, Whatcom and Whitman counties.

Crop Disasters 2015

Beginning January 7, 2015 USDA has declared crop disasters in at least 1,451 counties across 22 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.

USDA has also designated 14 municipalities in Puerto Rico as drought disaster areas.

About 99 percent of the 2015 crop disaster designations so far are due to drought.

Crop Disasters 2014

In 2014, USDA declared crop disasters in at least 2,904 counties across 44 states. Most of the designations were due to drought.

Those states were:

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan. Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. [FIRE-EARTH has documented all of the above listings. See blog content.]

Notes:
i. USDA trigger point for a countywide disaster declaration is 30 percent crop loss on at least one crop.

ii. The counties designated as agricultural disaster areas, as listed above, include both primary and contiguous disaster areas.

iii. Some counties may have been designated as crop disaster areas more than once due to multiple disasters.

iv. The U.S. has a total of 3,143 counties and county-equivalents.

v. The disaster designations posted above were approved by USDA on July 15, 2015 .

Related Links

• U.S. Drought: Crop Disaster Declared for Idaho Counties July 10, 2015
• Drought Destroys Crops in Six U.S. States July 2, 2015
• Drought and Deluge, Hail and Severe Freezing Destroy Crops in 7 States June 25, 2015
• Drought
• Agricultural Disasters Index