Farmers impacted by natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 now have access to much-needed financial support. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has opened the first phase of sign-up for its Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP), aimed at helping producers recover from major crop losses.
“We know farm operations across the United States were impacted by devastating natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 that caused immense revenue and production losses,” said Farm Production and Conservation Deputy Undersecretary Brooke Appleton.
“Congress provided disaster funds to the department to ensure that farmers were able to recover from these disasters. So part of that disaster relief is the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program, which is to provide $16 billion in critical disaster aid assistance to farmers who experienced crop losses due to natural disasters in 2023 and 2024.”
Sign-ups for the SDRP program began on July 10th and are initially focused on producers who suffered indemnified losses—those already reported through crop insurance or FSA systems.
“This first stage of the program is for producers with indemnified losses, and it leverages existing RMA and FSA data as the basis for calculating these payments.”
Eligible loss categories include a wide range of natural disaster events, ensuring that assistance reaches farmers affected by extreme and unpredictable weather conditions.
“Eligible losses must be due to wildfires, hurricanes, floods, deratios, excessive heat, tornadoes, winter storms, freeze, smoke exposure, excessive moisture, qualifying droughts, and then all related conditions occurring in those two calendar years of 2023 and 2024.”
The USDA’s use of existing data systems for this first phase is intended to streamline the process and get assistance to farmers as quickly as possible. Additional phases of sign-up for non-indemnified losses are expected in the coming months.
This critical $16 billion disaster aid package is a key part of federal efforts to protect U.S. food security and support the recovery of agricultural communities after years of hardship.
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet.