The drought continues in South Carolina, and I understand there’ve been some new developments affecting farmers.

You and I talked about drought last week, of course. But since then, South Carolina hit a few new milestones showing just how rapid and serious this drought is.

The state Drought Committee met and moved the entire state into the drought category. The state climatologist noted that this drought is especially fast moving and serious.

According to SCDNR, since early June, many locations in SC have received less than 2.5 inches of rain (25 percent of normal), combined with temperatures ranking in the top 10 warmest on record in South Carolina for the month. There were multiple reports of 100-degree temperatures. Overnight lows were also much higher than normal.

The US Drought Monitor map also for the first time moved eight counties into the D3, or Extreme Drought, designation.

Those counties are:

• Horry
• Darlington
• Marion
• Florence
• Lee
• Sumter
• Clarendon
• Williamsburg

The US Drought Monitor map is key for agriculture, as it determines what USDA can do to help address the situation.

With the D3 designation, FSA Emergency Loans are now automatically available to producers in those D3 counties and contiguous counties.

The Livestock Forage Program is also now available to eligible producers in the D3 counties. Producers should check with their FSA representative about these programs.

Going forward, we are asking South Carolina producers to report conditions to the US Drought Monitor.