SALEM, Ohio — The United States Department of Agriculture designated a handful of counties across West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania as natural disaster areas following severe, extreme or exceptional drought intensity during the growing season for eight or more consecutive weeks.
Now the Farm Service Agency will be able to extend emergency loans to producers for various recovery needs. Those needs may vary from replacing equipment or livestock to reorganization of a farming operation or to refinance certain debts.
West Virginia, where drought conditions gripped much of the state this year, saw two separate rounds of designations. The first covers 10 counties, including Barbour, Braxton, Brooke, Hancock, Lewis, Nicholas, Pocahontas, Randolph, Upshur and Webster. A second designation expands eligibility to 11 more primary counties, including Clay, Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Marshall, Mineral, Ohio, Preston, Tucker, Tyler and Wetzel. A long list of contiguous counties are also eligible for aid. These producers have until June 1, 2026 to apply for emergency loans.
In Ohio, Carroll, Columbiana and Jefferson were designated as primary natural disaster areas due to drought. Belmont, Harrison, Mahoning, Stark and Tuscarawas counties qualify for assistance as contiguous counties. Producers in these areas have until May 22, 2026 to apply for assistance.
In Pennsylvania. Beaver, Washington and Greene counties were named primary disaster areas, with six additional counties — Allegheny, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Lawrence and Westmoreland — qualifying as contiguous disaster areas. The application deadline is May 26, 2026 for Beaver and Washington counties and June 1, 2024 for Greene County.
To file a Notice of Loss or to ask questions about available programs, contact your local USDA Service Center.
SBA help
The U.S. Small Business Administration also recently announced the availability of low interest federal disaster loans to small businesses and private nonprofit organizations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia that sustained economic losses caused by the drought beginning Sept. 16, 2025.
The disaster declaration covers the counties of Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Harrison, Jefferson, Mahoning, Stark and Tuscarawas in Ohio; Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland in Pennsylvania; and Brooke, Hancock, Marshall and Ohio counties in West Virginia.
Under this declaration, the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program is available to eligible small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, nurseries and private nonprofits with financial losses directly related to this disaster. The SBA is unable to provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers or ranchers, except for aquaculture enterprises.
EIDLs are available for working capital needs caused by the disaster and are available even if the small business or PNP did not suffer any physical damage. The loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills not paid due to the disaster.
For more information on the EIDL program, visit online.
