USDA designates Liberty County as primary natural disaster area

U.S. Department of Agriculture

USDA has designated Liberty County as a primary natural disaster area due to extreme weather June 7 through July 9, with Hill, Chouteau, Pondera and Toole counties also eligible for assistance as contiguous counties.

The secretarial natural disaster designation allows the United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency to extend much-needed emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters through emergency loans. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation or the refinance of certain debts. FSA will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.

The declaration was due to excessive rain, hail, high winds and a tornado that all occurred during June 7 through July 9, 2022.

The application deadline for assistance is May 15, 2023.

On farmers.gov, the Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster Assistance-at-a-Glance fact sheet, and Farm Loan Discovery Tool can help producers determine program or loan options. To file a Notice of Loss or to ask questions about available programs, people can contact their local USDA Service Center.

Excessive rain, hail and high winds that occurred during June 11 through July 10, 2022, also led to a disaster declaration for Big Horn and Wibaux counties, also with an application deadline of May 15, 2023.

Contiguous counties also eligible for assistance in that declaration are Carbon, Dawson, Fallon, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Rosebud, Treasure and Yellowstone counties, Golden Valley and McKenzie counties in North Dakota and Big Horn and Sheridan counties in Wyoming.