Disaster Designation Tennessee: March 25, 2024

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced a disaster designation in Tennessee due to drought.

  

The designated counties are listed in the attached letter to the Governor of Tennessee. Additional information on USDA’s disaster assistance program can be found at www.farmers.gov/recover.

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March 25, 2024

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THE HONORABLE BILL LEE

Governor State of Tennessee State Capitol Nashville, TN 37243

 

Dear Governor Lee:

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In accordance with 7 CFR 759.5(a), I am designating 77 Tennessee counties as primary natural disaster areas due to a recent drought.

 

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor (see http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/), these counties suffered from a drought intensity value during the growing season of 1) D2 Drought-Severe for 8 or more consecutive weeks or 2) D3 Drought-Extreme or D4 Drought-Exceptional.

 

In accordance with Section 321(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, additional areas of your state and adjacent states are named as contiguous disaster counties. Enclosed you will find documentation that provides a detailed list of all primary and contiguous counties impacted by this disaster.

 

A Secretarial disaster designation makes farm operators in primary counties and those counties contiguous to such primary counties eligible to be considered for Farm Service Agency (FSA) emergency loan assistance, provided eligibility requirements are met. Farmers in eligible counties have 8 months from the date of a Secretarial disaster declaration to apply for emergency loans. FSA considers each emergency loan application on its own merits, taking into account the extent of production losses on the farm and the security and repayment ability of the operator.

 

Local FSA offices can provide affected farmers with further information.

 

Sincerely,

 

THOMAS J. VILSACK Secretary