U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced today that agricultural producers who suffered eligible crop losses due to natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 can now apply for $16 billion in assistance. Photo from Picryl.

News Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced today that agricultural producers who suffered eligible crop losses due to natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 can apply for $16 billion in assistance through the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program.

To expedite the implementation of SDRP, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency is delivering assistance in two stages. This first stage is open to producers with eligible crop losses that received assistance under crop insurance or the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program during 2023 and 2024.

Stage One sign up will start in person at FSA county offices on July 10 and prefilled applications are being mailed to producers today, July 9. SDRP Stage Two signups for eligible shallow or uncovered losses will begin in early fall.

“American farmers are no stranger to natural disasters that cause losses that leave no region or crop unscathed. Under President Trump’s leadership, USDA has worked around the clock to deliver this relief directly to our farmers,” said Secretary Rollins. “We are taking swift action to ensure farmers will have the resources they need to continue to produce the safest, most reliable, and most abundant food supply in the world.”

This announcement follows Secretary Rollins’ comprehensive plan to deliver the total amount of Congressionally appropriated $30 billion in disaster assistance to farmers and ranchers this year. These programs will complement the forthcoming state block grants that USDA is working with 14 different states to develop.

This expeditious timeline is in direct contrast to the Biden Administration’s USDA where disaster relief programs took an average of 13 months — and in one case 19 months — to reach farmers and ranchers.

To date, USDA has issued more than $7.8 billion in Emergency Commodity Assistance Program payments to more than half a million eligible producers. Additionally, USDA has provided over $1 billion in emergency relief through the Emergency Livestock Relief Program to producers who suffered grazing losses due to drought or wildfires in calendar years 2023 and 2024.

USDA disaster assistance information can be found on farmers.gov, including the Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster-at-a-Glance fact sheet, Loan Assistance Tool, and the FarmRaise online FSA education hub. Payment details will be updated here weekly. For more information, contact your local USDA Service Center.

Here are the program details:

SDRP Stage 1

FSA is launching a streamlined, pre-filled application process for eligible crop, tree, and vine losses by leveraging existing Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program and Risk Management Agency indemnified loss data. The pre-filled applications were mailed on Wednesday, July 9.

Eligibility

Eligible losses must be the result of natural disasters occurring in calendar years 2023 and/or 2024. These disasters include wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, excessive heat, tornadoes, winter storms, freeze including a polar vortex, smoke exposure, excessive moisture, qualifying drought, and related conditions.

To qualify for drought related losses, the loss must have occurred in a county rated by the U.S. Drought Monitor as having a D2, meaning severe drought, for eight consecutive weeks, D3, meaning extreme drought, or greater intensity level during the applicable calendar year.

Producers in Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, and Massachusetts will not be eligible for SDRP program payments. Instead, these states chose to cover eligible crop, tree, bush, and vine losses through separate block grants. These block grants are funded through the $220M provided for this purpose to eligible states in the American Relief Act.

How To Apply

To apply for SDRP, producers must submit the FSA-526, Supplemental Disaster Relief Program Stage One Application, in addition to having other forms on file with FSA.

SDRP Stage One Payment Calculation

Stage One payments are based on the SDRP adjusted NAP or Federal crop insurance coverage level the producer purchased for the crop. The net NAP or net federal crop insurance payments — meaning NAP or crop insurance indemnities minus administrative fees and premiums — will be subtracted from the SDRP calculated payment amount.

For Stage One, the total SDRP payment to indemnified producers will not exceed 90% of the loss and an SDRP payment factor of 35% will be applied to all Stage One payments. If additional SDRP funds remain, FSA may issue a second payment.

Future Insurance Coverage Requirements

All producers who receive SDRP payments are required to purchase federal crop insurance or NAP coverage for the next two available crop years at the 60% coverage level or higher. Producers who fail to purchase crop insurance for the next two available crop years will be required to refund the SDRP payment, plus interest, to USDA.

SDRP Stage 2

FSA will announce additional SDRP assistance for uncovered losses, including non-indemnified shallow losses and quality losses and how to apply later this fall.