USDA OKs drought aid for counties around the West

DENVER (AP) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved new designations allowing farmers and ranchers around the West, including nine Colorado counties, to seek federal aid to get through the drought.

All but a handful of Colorado's 64 counties have been designated this crop year as either primary natural disaster areas due to drought or as contiguous to those counties.

The USDA on Wednesday approved contiguous county designations for Jackson, Larimer, Logan, Moffat, Phillips, Routt, Sedgwick, Weld and Yuma counties, making producers there eligible to be considered for emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency.

Every Wyoming county has received a designation as a primary or contiguous county eligible for aid. The six Montana counties on Wyoming's northern border also were approved Wednesday as contiguous counties eligible for help.