The Agriculture Department is opening enrollment for the second phase of its $16 billion Supplemental Disaster Relief Program, as well as for the Milk Loss Program.
The SDRP funding, which was authorized by Congress last December, will allow producers to be indemnified for losses that did not exceed their crop insurance deductible, USDA Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation Richard Fordyce told reporters Monday. He said it "addresses a clear gap in previous disaster additions."
Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine and Massachusetts have asked to administer their own crop loss programs through state block grants, so land in those states will not be eligible for SDRP enrollment, Fordyce said.
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This is the second round of the SDRP rollout. The first started in July and focused on indemnified losses based on crop insurance and Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program data. Enrollment for both stages will close April 30.
Fordyce also announced the agency is opening signups for the $1.65 million MLP, which compensates producers who were forced to dump milk or remove it from the commercial market due to adverse weather in 2023 or 2024.
A USDA press release says producers who lost some commodities while stored in on-farm structures in 2023 or 2024 may also qualify for up to $5 million through the On-Farm Stored Commodity Loss program. Enrollment for these two programs opens Nov. 24 and closes Jan. 23.
