Nine South Dakota counties have now been proclaimed as natural disaster areas due to the drought of 2021-2022.  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 at least eight weeks.  Eligible counties include: Clay, Hughes, Jones, Mellette, Potter, Sully, Turner, Union and Yankton.  Contiguous counties are also eligible for the emergency disaster relief loans.  They include: Bennett, Bon Homme, Dewey, Edmunds, Faulk, Haakon, Hutchinson and Hyde.  The designation also includes the Iowa counties of Plymouth, Sioux, and Woodbury, and the Nebraska counties of Cedar, Dakota, Dixon and Knox.  The USDA also announced four Nebraska counties as primary disaster areas, again due to the drought of 2021-2022.  They include Adams, Clay, Deuel and Keith.  Contiguous counties also eligible would include Arthur, Buffalo, Cheyenne, Fillmore, Garden, Hall, Hamilton and Kearney.