126 GEORGIA COUNTIES DECLARED PRIMARY NATURAL DISASTER AREAS DUE TO SEVERE, ONGOING DROUGHT

Wed, Apr 22 2026

ATLANTA, GA - Today, the Georgia Department of Agriculture, in coordination with the United States Department of Agriculture, announced that 126 Georgia counties have been designated as primary natural disaster areas due to ongoing drought conditions. This Secretarial Disaster Declaration 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. Producers can contact their county FSA office for more information.

"Extreme drought conditions are impacting thousands of farm families across our state - causing even more uncertainty and driving up costs on the farm at a critical time," said Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler J Harper. "This Secretarial disaster declaration will allow Georgia producers to tap into additional, federal support as the drought conditions continue, and I'm deeply grateful to Secretary Brooke Rollins and the Trump Administration for their continued support of Georgia's #1 industry and the farm families who fuel its success."

Primary Counties:

Georgia (126)

Appling, Atkinson, Bacon, Baker, Banks, Barrow, Ben Hill, Berrien, Bibb, Bleckley, Brantley, Brooks, Bryan, Bulloch, Burke, Calhoun, Camden, Candler, Catoosa, Charlton, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Clarke, Clay, Clinch, Coffee, Colquitt, Columbia, Cook, Crawford, Crisp, Decatur, Dodge, Dooly, Dougherty, Early, Echols, Effingham, Elbert, Emanuel, Evans, Fannin, Forsyth, Franklin, Gilmer, Glascock, Glynn, Grady, Greene, Gwinnett, Hall, Hancock, Harris, Hart, Houston, Irwin, Jackson, Jeff Davis, Jefferson, Jenkins, Johnson, Lamar, Lanier, Laurens, Lee, Liberty, Lincoln, Long, Lowndes, Lumpkin, McDuffie, McIntosh, Macon, Madison, Marion, Meriwether, Miller, Mitchell, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Murray, Muscogee, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Peach, Pierce, Pulaski, Quitman, Randolph, Schley, Screven, Seminole, Stephens, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taliaferro, Tattnall, Taylor, Telfair, Terrell, Thomas, Tift, Toombs, Towns, Treutlen, Troup, Turner, Twiggs, Union, Upson, Walker, Walton, Ware, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wheeler, White, Whitfield, Wilcox, Wilkes, Wilkinson, Worth.

Contiguous Counties:

Georgia (23)

Baldwin, Butts, Chattooga, Cherokee, Coweta, Dade, Dawson, DeKalb, Floyd, Fulton, Pickens, Pike, Gordon, Putnam, Habersham, Rabun, Heard, Richmond, Jasper, Jones, Rockdale, Newton, Spalding.

Contiguous Counties in Adjacent States:

Alabama (8)
Barbour, Chambers, DeKalb, Henry, Houston, Lee, Randolph, and Russell.

Florida (9)
Columbia, Gadsden, Hamilton, Jackson, Leon, Madison, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Nassau.

North Carolina (2)

Cherokee and Clay

South Carolina (10)

Abbeville, Allendale, Aiken, Anderson, Barnwell, Hampton, Edgefield, Jasper, McCormick, Oconee.

Tennessee (3)
Bradly, Hamilton, and Polk

• Category
• Drought

Media contacts

• Matthew Agvent, Communications Director
• Liz Rivera-Brown, Deputy Communications Director

About the GDA
The Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) is the voice of the state's agriculture community. The department's mission is to provide excellence in services and regulatory functions, to protect and promote agriculture and consumer interests, and to ensure an abundance of safe food and fiber for Georgia, America, and the world by using state-of-the-art technology and a professional workforce.

Find us on Facebook • Follow on Twitter: @GDAFoodSafety •@GeorgiaGrown

For more information, visit https://www.agr.georgia.gov.

Georgia Department of Agriculture
Tyler J Harper, Commissioner
19 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. SW
Atlanta, GA 30334