Drought, Deluge Destroy Crops in 12 States

Crop Disasters Declared in Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, N. Carolina, Oklahoma, S. Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated a total 257 counties and parishes across 12 states as crop disaster areas due to drought and other extreme weather events.

Drought Crop Disaster Areas: Designation # 1

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 23 additional counties and parishes in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought. Those areas are:

• Arkansas.  Ashley, Chicot, Clark, Columbia, Desha, Drew, Hempstead, Howard, Lafayette, Little River, Miller, Montgomery, Nevada, Ouachita, Pike, Polk and Sevier counties.
• Louisiana. East Carroll, Morehouse and West Carroll parishes.
• Mississippi. Bolivar, Issaquena and Washington counties.

Drought Crop Disaster Areas: Designation # 2

USDA has designated 56 additional parishes and counties in Louisiana,  Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought. Those areas are:

• Louisiana. Acadia, Allen, Ascension, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Caldwell, Catahoula, Concordia, De-Soto, East-Baton, East-Carroll, East-Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin,  Grant, Iberville, Jefferson-Davis, Lafayette, LaSalle, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe-Coupee, Rapides, Richland, Rouge, Sabine, St-Helena, St-Landry, St.John-the-Baptist, St.Martin, St.Tammany, Tangipahoa, Tensas, Vernon,  Washington, West-Baton-Rouge, West-Carroll, West-Feliciana and Winn parishes.
• Arkansas. Chicot County.
• Mississippi. Adams, Issaquena, Pearl River, Warren, Amite, Jefferson, Pike, Wilkinson, Claiborne, Marion and Walthall counties.
• Texas. Newton, Sabine and Shelby counties.

Drought Crop Disaster Areas: Designation # 3

USDA has designated 57 additional counties and parishes in Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought. Those areas are:

• Mississippi. Adams, Amite, Attala, Bolivar, Carroll, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clarke, Coahoma, Copiah, Covington, Forrest, Franklin, Grenada, Hancock, Harrison, Jasper, Jefferson, Jefferson-Davis, Jones, Kemper, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Leake, Lincoln, Marion, Montgomery, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Pearl-River, Perry, Pike, Scott, Simpson, Smith, Stone, Sunflower, Walthall, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wilkinson ans Winston counties.
• Louisiana. Concordia, East Feliciana, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Tensas, Washington, and West Feliciana parishes.
• Arkansas. Chicot, Desha and Phillips counties.

Drought Crop Disaster Areas: Designation # 4

USDA has designated 10 counties in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought. Those areas are:

• Montana. Broadwater, Gallatin, Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, Madison, Meagher and Park counties.
• Idaho. Fremont County.
• Wyoming. Park and Teton counties.

Drought Crop Disaster Areas: Designation # 5

USDA has designated 17 counties in Oklahoma and Texas as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought. Those areas are:

• Oklahoma. Atoka, Bryan, Carter, Choctaw, Coal, Johnson, Latimer, Le Flore, Marshall, McCurtain, Murray, Pittsburg, Pontotoc and Pushmataha counties.
• Texas. Fannin, Grayson and Lamar counties.

Drought Crop Disaster Areas: Designation # 6

USDA has designated 46 counties in Texas as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by a recent drought. Those areas are:

• Texas. Blanco, Borden, Caldwell, Camp, Cherokee, Coke, Coleman, Comal, Concho, Crockett, Crosby, Dickens, Fisher, Franklin, Garza, Gregg, Guadalupe, Hays, Henderson, Hopkins, Howard, Irion, Jones, Kent, Kimble, King, McCulloch, Menard, Mitchell, Nolan, Rains, Reagan, Runnels, Rusk, Schleicher, Scurry, Smith, Sterling, Stonewall, Sutton, Taylor, Tom Green, Travis, Upshur, Van Zandt and Wood counties.

Crop Disaster Areas: Designation # 7

USDA has designated 48 counties in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by excessive rain and flooding that occurred from Sept. 22, 2015, through Oct. 4, 2015. Those areas are:

• North Carolina. Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Caldwell, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Edgecombe, Halifax, Harnett, Hyde, Iredell, Johnston, Jones, Lenoir, Martin, Nash, NewHanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Pitt, Robeson, Sampson, Surry, Tyrrell, Washington, Watauga, Wayne, Wilkes, Wilson and Yadkin counties.
• South Carolina. Dillon and Horry counties.
• Tennessee. Johnson County.
• Virginia. Grayson County.

All counties listed above were designated natural disaster areas on Oct. 21, 2015 .

Crop Disasters 2015

Beginning January 7, 2015 USDA has declared crop disasters in at least 3,353 counties and county equivalents across 43 States [as well as Puerto Rico, and US Virgin Islands]: Arizona, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, Wyoming.

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

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.

Related Links

• Drought, Freeze… Kill Crops in 173 Counties across 7 States October 16, 2015
• Drought Destroys or Damages Crops in Three U.S. States October 8, 2015
• Crop Disasters Declared across Multiple Areas October 1, 2015
• Drought
• Agricultural Disasters Index