FACT SHEET

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

FARM SERVICE AGENCY

July 2012

Emergency Disaster Designation and Declaration Process

Overview

Agriculture-related disasters 

and disaster designations are 

quite common. One-half to 

two-thirds of the counties in 

the United States have been 

designated as disaster areas 

in each of the past several 

years, even in years of 

record crop production. 

The Secretary of Agriculture 

is authorized to designate 

counties as disaster areas 

to make emergency loans 

(EM) to producers suffering 

losses in those counties 

and in counties that are 

contiguous to a designated 

county. In addition to EM 

eligibility, other emergency 

assistance programs, such 

as FSA disaster assistance 

programs, have historically 

used disaster designations 

as an eligibility requirement 

trigger.

The Farm Service Agency 

(FSA) streamlined the 

USDA Disaster Designation 

process to make assistance 

more readily available 

and with less burdensome 

paperwork. 

Types of Disaster 

Designations

FSA administers four types 

of disaster designations:

•	 USDA Secretarial 

disaster designation 

(This designation is 

most widely used).

•	 Presidential major 

disaster and Presidential 

emergency declarations,

•	 FSA Administrator’s 

Physical Loss 

Notification and,

•	 Quarantine designation 

by the Secretary under 

the Plant Protection 

Act or animal 

quarantine laws as 

defined in § 2509 of

the Food, Agriculture, 

Conservation and 

Trade Act of 1990

(mentioned in 7 

CFR part 761, which 

includes a definition

of “quarantine” in 

accordance with 7 

U.S.C. 1961).

What Does a Disaster 

Designation Specify?

A disaster designation 

specifies:

•	 The disaster that resulted 

in the designation; 

•	 The incidence period 

(dates) of that disaster; 

•	 The specific counties

included in the 

designation. 

Procedures for Severe 

Drought

The streamlined process 

provides for nearly an 

automatic designation for 

any county in which drought 

conditions, as reported in 

the U.S. Drought Monitor 

(http://droughtmonitor.unl.

edu/) when any portion of a 

county meets the D2 (Severe

Drought) drought intensity 

value for eight consecutive 

weeks. A county that has 

a portion of its area in a 

drought intensity value of 

D3 (Extreme Drought) or 

higher at any time during 

the growing season also 

would be designated as a 

disaster area.

Benefits of the Streamlined 

Disaster Designation 

Process

The new process helps 

reduce paperwork and 

documentation requirements 

at the local FSA level, 

making the process more 

efficient and timely.

Individual producer losses 

would still need to be 

documented for Emergency 

Loan (EM) Program 

eligibility.

Page 1
FACT SHEET

Emergency Disaster Designation and Declaration Process July 2012

those drought conditions 

that are not considered 

severe, the county 

must either show a 30

percent production loss 

of at least one crop or 

a determination must 

be made by surveying 

producers that other 

lending institutions will 

not be able to provide 

emergency financing.

Location of Regulation 

Governing Disaster 

Designation Process

The rule is contained in the 

Federal Register dated July 

13, 2012, at

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

pkg/FR-2012-07-13/

html/2012-17137.htm.

Page 2

Highlights of the New Rule 

Governing Secretarial 

Disaster Designations

•	 The new rule governing 

disaster designations:

•	 Streamlines the 

USDA Secretarial 

designation process 

by eliminating steps 

from the current 

process;

•	 Preserves the ability 

of a state governor 

or Indian Tribal 

Council to request a 

Secretarial Disaster 

Designation; 

•	 Removes the 

requirement that 

a request for a 

disaster designation 

be initiated only 

by a state governor 

or Indian Tribal 

Council;

•	 Further streamlines 

the disaster 

designation process 

for severe drought 

occurrences by 

utilizing the 

U.S. Drought 

Monitor as a tool 

to automatically 

trigger disaster areas 

with no further 

documentation;

•	 Does not impose any 

new requirements 

on producers or the 

public. 

•	 For all other natural 

disaster occurrences and 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture 

(USDA) prohibits discrimination in all 

its programs and activities on the basis 

of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital 

status, familial status, parental status, 

religion, sexual orientation, political 

beliefs, genetic information, reprisal, 

or because all or part of an individual’s 

income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases 

apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means 

for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) 

should contact USDA’s TARGET Center 

at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To 

file a complaint of Discrimination, write 

to USDA, Assistant Secretary for Civil 

Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., 

Stop 9410, Washington, DC 20250-9410, 

or call toll-free at (866) 632-9992 (English) or (800) 877-8339 (TDD), or (866) 

377-8642 (English Federal-relay), or, or 

(800) 845-6136 or. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.