Antelope and Holt counties are two of the 55 Nebraska counties designated as primary natural disaster areas, due to a recent drought.

United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack notified Gov. Jim Pillen of the designation, March 31.

Based on the U.S. Drought Monitor data, counties included in the designation either suffered from a drought intensity value during the growing season for eight or more consecutive weeks or fell into extreme or exceptional drought categories.

According to Vilsack, the designation "makes farm operators in primary counties and those counties contiguous to such primary counties eligible to be considered for Farm Service Agency emergency loan assistance, provided eligibility requirements are met."

Farmers in eligible counties will have eight months from the date of the disaster declaration to apply for emergency loans.

Other counties included in the declaration are Arthur, Banner, Blaine, Boone, Boyd, Brown, Burt, Butler, Cedar, Chase, Cherry, Cheyenne, Colfax, Cuming, Dakota, Deuel, Dixon, Dodge, Douglas, Dundy, Frontier, Furnas, Garden, Greeley, Hall, Hamilton, Hayes, Hitchcock, Hooker, Howard, Keith, Keya Paha, Kimball, Lincoln, Loup, Madison, Merrick, Morrill, Nance, Perkins, Pierce, Platte, Polk, Red Willow, Rock, Saunders, Scotts Bluff, Stanton, Thomas, Thurston, Washington, Wayne and Wheeler.

Contiguous counties listed in the declaration are Adams, Box Butte, Buffalo, Cass, Clay, Custer, Dawson, Garfield, Gosper, Grant, Harlan, Knox, Lancaster, Logan, McPherson, Phelps, Sarpy, Seward, Sheridan, Sherman, Sioux, Valley and York.

Areas included in contiguous states include five counties in Colorado, four in Iowa, four in Kansas, nine in South Dakota and two in Wyoming.