The Secretary on Thursday designated 24 counties as primary natural disaster areas. The state's remaining five counties - Daggett, Grand, Sevier, Wayne and Wasatch - have been declared contiguous disaster areas.

Once a county receives a natural or contiguous disaster designation, all farmers in the county become eligible to apply to the USDA Farm Service Agency for emergency loans.

To receive a primary disaster declaration, a county must have incurred a production loss of at least 30 percent. Contiguous areas must be surrounded by impacted counties.

"This is going to help some people get through this difficult time," said state Agriculture Commissioner Leonard Blackham. "There's also been some rains, especially in the southern part of the state, and that's been good too."

Along with record wildfires and severe drought, the 24 counties have also suffered from infestations, killing frosts, hot dry winds and flash flooding, said Johanns in his letter to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.