HARRISBURG — State Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding recently notified farmland owners in 25 Pennsylvania counties that they are eligible to receive disaster relief assistance from the United States Department of Agriculture due to losses caused by drought that occurred during the 2020 crop year.

“I encourage Pennsylvania farmers who have experienced loss from Mother Nature’s unpredictably to check with their local Farm Service Agency to see how they can help,” Redding said in a statement. “Our farmers are resilient, battling both disaster and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and disaster. These farmers can now breathe a sigh of relief.”

USDA reviewed the Loss Assessment Reports and determined that there were sufficient production losses to warrant a “secretarial” natural disaster designation. Six Pennsylvania counties are designated as primary natural disaster areas, in two separate disaster designations.

Centre and Clearfield are among the primary countries for the drought that occurred June 1 through Nov. 30. Blair, Cambria and Huntindgon are among the contiguous counties listed.

A secretarial disaster designation makes farm operators in primary counties and those counties contiguous to such primary counties eligible to be considered for certain assistance from the federal Farm Service Agency, provided eligibility requirements are met.

Eligible farmers can apply for loans for up to eight months from the date of a secretarial disaster declaration, and should contact their local FSA office for assistance. More information on USDA’s disaster assistance program, including county lists and maps, can be found at disaster.fsa.usda.gov.

March 15 is the federal deadline to enroll in crop insurance.