The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved North Dakota’s request for a secretarial disaster designation for 47 counties as a result of natural disasters in 2019, Sen. John Hoeven, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, announced Friday.

Secretary Sonny Perdue approved North Dakota’s request, which includes extreme late season rainfall and the early snowstorm. Hoeven hosted Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Bill Northey in the Red River Valley this week for a roundtable and field tour to hear directly from producers and see the impacts of flooding and an early blizzard firsthand.