USDA Designates 24 Virginia Localities as Drought Disaster Areas

What this means

A factual summary is pending editorial review. The complete official release is reproduced below with issuer attribution and a direct link to the original publication.

Official release

Source material from Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The wording below is the issuer’s statement.

News Release

UPDATE - May 7, 2026: This release has been updated to include additional localities.

April 14, 2026

USDA Designates 24 Virginia Localities as Drought Disaster Areas

Farmers in designated disaster areas have eight months to apply for emergency assistance

Richmond, Va. – Due to recent drought conditions, 24 Virginia localities have

received drought disaster designations by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke

Rollins. Farmers in the primary designated counties of Brunswick, Greensville, and Southampton are now

eligible to be considered for certain assistance from the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA). Farmers in the

counties of Arlington, Dinwiddie, Fairfax, Franklin, Grayson, Halifax, Isle of Wight, King George,

Loudoun, Lunenberg, Mecklenburg, Nottoway, Prince William, Stafford, Surry, Sussex, Washington,

Westmoreland and the cities of Alexandria, Emporia and Suffolk are also eligible for FSA drought emergency

assistance as they are contiguous to primary drought designated localities in Virginia, Maryland, North

Carolina, and Tennessee.

This drought disaster assistance includes FSA emergency loans. Provided eligibility requirements are met,

FSA will assess each emergency loan application individually to consider specific circumstances and needs.

Farmers in eligible localities have eight months from the date of disaster declaration to apply for

emergency loans.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor (https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu), these localities suffered from a drought

intensity value during the growing season of 1) D2 Drought-Severe for eight or more consecutive weeks or

2) D3 Drought-Extreme or D4 Drought-Exceptional.

For more information on available assistance programs and the application process, please visit the

Virginia FSA State Office website at www.fsa.usda.gov/state-offices/Virginia.

UPDATE

The following localities are now under drought disaster designation:

May 7, 2026 - Campbell and Pittsylvania counties.

May 5, 2026 - Charlotte and Lunenberg counties.

Please contact your local FSA office for more details and drought disaster

assistance.

Release text attributed to Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Consult the official publication for any subsequent corrections or updates.