The United States Department of Agriculture has designated more than 200 of counties across Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, and Arizona as primary natural disaster zones due to ongoing drought conditions. Dozens of contiguous counties in neighboring states are also included in the designation

This Secretarial natural disaster designation allows the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) to extend much-needed emergency credit to producers recovering from natural disasters through emergency loans. Emergency loans can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of a farming operation or the refinance of certain debts. FSA will review the loans based on the extent of losses, security available and repayment ability.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 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

The application deadline is December 8, 2022.

In Colorado all 64 Counties have been designated as Primary Natural Disaster Areas

Contiguous Counties Also Eligible:
Arizona: Apache
Kansas: Cheyenne, Greeley, Hamilton, Morton, Sherman, Stanton, Wallace
Nebraska: Chase, Cheyenne, Deuel, Dundy, Kimball, Perkins
New Mexico: Colfax, San Juan, Union, Rio Arriba, Taos
Oklahoma: Cimarron
Utah: Daggett, Grand, San Juan, Uintah
Wyoming: Albany, Carbon, Laramie, Sweetwater

Other states USDA also designated as Primary Natural Disaster Areas with Colorado Counties included as Contiguous Counties are:

66 Oklahoma Counties as Primary Natural Disaster Areas

Contiguous Counties Also Eligible:

Oklahoma:
Cherokee Haskell McIntosh Okfuskee Ottawa
Delaware Latimer Muskogee Okmulgee Sequoyah

Arkansas: Little River, Polk, Scott, Sebastian, Sevier
Colorado: Baca
Kansas: Barber, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Clark, Comanche, Cowley, Harper, Labette, Meade, Montgomery, Morton, Seward, Stevens, Sumner
New Mexico: Union
Texas: Bowie, Childress, Clay, Collingsworth, Cooke, Dallam, Fannin, Grayson, Hansford, Hardeman, Hemphill, Lamar, Lipscomb, Montague, Ochiltree, Red River, Sherman, Wheeler, Wichita, Wilbarger.

In New Mexico 33 Counties  

Contiguous Counties Also Eligible:

Arizona: Apache, Cochise, Greenlee
Colorado: Archuleta, Baca, Conejos, Costilla, La Plata, Las Animas, Montezuma
Oklahoma: Cimarron
Texas: Andrews, Bailey, Cochran, Culberson, Dallam, Deaf Smith, El Paso, Gaines, Hartley, Hudspeth, Loving, Oldham, Parmer, Reeves, Winkler, Yoakum
Utah: San Juan

45 Kansas Counties 

Contiguous Counties Also Eligible:
Kansas: Butler, Cherokee, Crawford, Elk, Grove, Graham, Harvey, Hodgeman, Jewell, Kingman, Lane, Lincoln, Logan, McPherson, Mitchell, Neosho, Ness, Norton, Phillips, Saline, Sedgwick, Smith, Trego, Wilson
Colorado: Baca, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Kit Carson, Prowers, Yuma
Nebraska: Dundy, Furnas, Hitchcock, Red Willow
Oklahoma: Alfalfa, Beaver, Cimarron, Craig, Grant, Harper, Kay, Nowata, Osage, Texas, Washington, Woods

8 Arizona Counties declared

Contiguous Counties in: 

California: Imperial, Riverside, San Bernardino
Colorado: Montezuma
Nevada: Clark, Lincoln
New Mexico: Catron, Cibola, Grant, Hidalgo, McKinley, San Juan
Utah: Kane, San Juan, Washington

For a complete list go to https://www.fsa.usda.gov/news-room/emergency-designations/index