FRANKFORT – Governor Steve Beshear announced Monday that more Kentucky counties have been classified as drought disaster areas by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
In a letter to the governor, Vilsack declared an additional 68 Kentucky counties as primary disaster areas due to losses caused by drought that occurred April 1 and continuing. Adair County is one of those counties.
Other nearby counties included in the declaration are Barren, Cumberland, Clinton, Green, Marion, Metcalfe, Pulaski, Russell, Taylor, Warren and Wayne counties.
Also as a result of this designation, 22 contiguous counties are eligible for assistance. Nearby counties that qualify include Casey, LaRue and Hardin.
After a similar declaration last month and earlier this month, Kentucky now has 116 counties as either primary or contiguous disaster areas due to drought, every county except Bell, Harlan, Leslie and Perry counties.
“We are pleased that Sec. Vilsack has issued this disaster designation for the benefit of additional farm families in Kentucky. While some areas have seen rain in recent weeks, it did not arrive in time to mitigate agricultural losses in these counties,” said Beshear. “The widespread impact this drought has had on the commonwealth can be seen in that 97 percent of the state is covered by a disaster designation. I appreciate Sec. Vilsack’s continued support of our farm families.”
To date, USDA has designated 1,792 counties as disaster areas—1,670 due to drought.
