Overview

Agriculture-related disasters and disaster designations are quite 

common. Many counties in the United States have been designated 

as disaster areas in 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 (EM) loans available to 

producers suffering losses in those counties and in counties that are 

contiguous to a designated county. In addition to EM loan eligibility, 

other emergency assistance programs, such as Farm Service Agency 

(FSA) disaster assistance programs, 

have historically used disaster designations as an eligibility trigger.

Types of Disaster Designations

FSA administers four types of disaster designations:

• U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretarial disaster designation;

• Presidential major disaster and Presidential emergency declaration;

• FSA Administrator’s Physical Loss Notification (APLN); and

• Quarantine designation by the Secretary under the Plant Protection Act or animal quarantine laws.

USDA Secretarial disaster designations must be requested of the 

Secretary of Agriculture by a governor or the governor’s authorized 

representative, by an Indian Tribal Council leader or by an FSA State 

Executive Director (SED). The Secretarial disaster designation is the 

most widely used. There is an expedited process for drought. The 

general process and the expedited process are described in further 

detail under “Secretarial Disaster Designation Process.”

Presidential major disaster declarations, which must be requested of 

the President by a governor, are administered through the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). A Presidential major 

disaster declaration can be made within days or 

hours of the initial request. FEMA immediately 

notifies FSA of the primary counties named in a Presidential 

declaration.

An FSA APLN is for physical losses only, such as a building destroyed 

by a tornado. Livestock-related losses are considered physical losses. 

An APLN is requested of FSA’s Administrator by an FSA SED.

A quarantine designation is requested of the Secretary of Agriculture 

by an FSA SED. A quarantine designation authorizes EM loans for 

production and physical losses resulting from quarantine.

What Does a Disaster Designation 

Specify?

A disaster designation specifies:

• The disaster that resulted in the designation;

• The incident period (dates) of that disaster; and

• The specific counties included in the 

designation.

Secretarial Disaster Designation 

Process

USDA’s Secretarial disaster declaration 

process is streamlined to reduce paperwork 

and documentation requirements at 

the local FSA level, making the process 

more efficient and timely for agricultural 

producers. The process includes Fast 

Track Secretarial disaster designations for 

severe drought, which provide for a nearly 

automatic designation when, during the 

growing season, any portion of a county 

meets the D2 (Severe Drought) drought 

intensity value for eight consecutive weeks 

or a higher drought intensity value for 

any length of time as reported in the U.S. 

Drought Monitor (http://droughtmonitor.

unl.edu.)

United States

Department of

Agriculture

Emergency Disaster Designation and Declaration Process

FARM SERVICE AGENCY

DISASTER ASSISTANCE
EMERGENCY DISASTER DESIGNATION AND DECLARATION PROCESS 2

For all other natural disaster occurrences, including 

drought conditions that do not trigger a Fast Track 

designation, the county must have 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. The process for those Secretarial 

disaster designations is described below.

Process

STEP 1

The governor, Indian Tribal Council leader or FSA 

SED makes a request in writing to the Secretary of 

Agriculture within three months of the ending date of 

the disaster.

STEP 2

FSA county offices assemble required agricultural loss 

information for the Loss Assessment Report.

STEP 3

The County Emergency Board reviews the Loss 

Assessment Report to determine if a 30 percent 

production loss of at least one crop occurred, and 

makes a recommendation to approve, defer or reject 

the request.

STEP 4

The State Emergency Board reviews the request and 

the County Emergency Board’s recommendation. The 

State Emergency Board’s recommendation is submitted 

to FSA’s national headquarters.

STEP 5

FSA national headquarters reviews the loss information 

on the Loss Assessment Report, determines eligibility 

and prepares a package, including the letter of approval 

or disapproval, to be signed by the Secretary.

Eligible Natural Disasters

Eligible natural disasters are disasters in which 

damaging weather conditions or other adverse natural 

occurrence phenomena have substantially affected 

farmers causing severe production losses. Eligible 

natural disaster conditions include, but are not limited 

to, drought, flooding, excessive rain and humidity, 

severe storms, lightning, hail, mudslides and landslides, 

snow, ice, blizzards, frost, freeze, below-normal 

temperatures, wind, tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, 

tropical storms, fire, excessive heat, volcanoes, pests 

and disease.

FSA Programs Initiated by Designations 

and/or Declarations

All types of designation or declaration (Secretarial 

disaster designations, Presidential disaster declarations, 

APLNs and quarantine designations) immediately 

trigger the availability of low-interest FSA EM loans 

to eligible producers in all primary and contiguous 

counties. More information about EM loans is available 

at www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/farmloan-programs/emergency-farm-loans/index.

FSA borrowers located in designated disaster areas 

or contiguous counties, who are unable to make their 

scheduled payments on any debt, may be authorized 

to have certain set asides. Under Section 331A of the 

Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, FSA is 

authorized to consider setting aside certain payments 

owed by FSA borrowers to allow the operation to 

continue.

Various other programs may reference designations or 

declarations as is determined appropriate in program 

development.

Regulation Governing Disaster Designation 

Process

The regulation governing disaster designations is at 

7 CFR Part 759. 

For More Information

This fact sheet is for informational purposes only; other 

restrictions may apply. For more information about FSA 

disaster programs, visit http://disaster.fsa.usda.gov

or contact your local FSA office. To find your local FSA 

office, visit http://offices.usda.gov.

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