Drought Destroys Crops in U.S. West, Puerto Rico

Drought destroys crops in 5 states and Puerto Rico

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 80 counties across five states—California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington—and 8 municipalities in Puerto Rico as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by drought.

Crop Disaster Areas – Designation #1

• Idaho: Adams, Boise, Bonner, Boundary, Clearwater, Custer, Gem, Idaho, Latah, LemhiLewis, Nez Perce and Valley counties.

• Montana: Lincoln, Missoula and Ravalli counties.

• Oregon: Wallowa County.

• Washington: Asotin, Pend Oreille and Whitman counties.

Crop Disaster Areas – Designation #2

• Oregon: Benton, Clatsop, Columbia, Coos, Curry, Deschutes, Douglas, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Polk, Tillamook, Washington and Yamhill counties.

• California: Del Norte and Siskiyou counties.

Crop Disaster Areas – Designation #3

• Washington: Adams, Asotin, Chelan, Clallam, Clark, Columbia, Cowlitz, Douglas, Ferry, Franklin, Garfield, Grant, Grays Harbor, Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Kittitas, Klickitat, Lewis, Lincoln, Mason, Okanogan, Pacific, Pierce, Skagit, Skamania, Snohomish, Spokane, Stevens, Thurston, Wahkiakum, Whatcom, Whitman and Yakima counties.

• Idaho: Benewah, Latah and Nez Perce counties.

• Oregon: Hood River, Multnomah and Wallowa counties.

Crop Disaster Areas – Designation #4

• Puerto Rico: Aibonito, Arroyo, Cayey, Coamo, Guayama, Patillas, Salinas and Santa Isabel municipalities.
  

Crop Disasters 2015

Beginning January 7, 2015 USDA has declared crop disasters in at least 1,692 counties, or county equivalents, across 26 States: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, 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 8 additional 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 August 5, 2015 .

Related Links

• Extreme Weather Events Destroy Crops in 10 States July 30, 2015
• Crop Disasters Declared in Six States July 23, 2015
• Drought Destroys Crops in Florida, Idaho , Montana, Utah, Washington & Puerto Rico  July 16, 2015
• 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