The Agriculture Department will issue a second round of disaster payments to producers who suffered losses in 2023 and 2024, Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Friday.
The agency will be doubling the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program's payment factor for eligible producers, raising it from 35% to 70%, according to a USDA press release. It will also extend the program's application deadline to Aug. 12.
"By extending the program deadline and making available this additional payment, we are continuing to put farmers first during this difficult farm economy,” Rollins said in the release. “To help secure the economic viability of disaster-impacted farmers, we’re taking deliberate steps to provide stronger, more meaningful financial support for our nation’s agricultural producers.”
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Stage one payments are available to producers who received an indemnity under crop insurance or the USDA's Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program for crop losses from wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, certain drought conditions and other disasters that occurred in 2023 and 2024. Stage two payments are for certain crop, tree, bush and vine losses that were not covered through stage one, according to the press release.
The program is funded through a December 2024 stopgap spending bill that included $100 billion in total disaster assistance, including $21 billion specifically allocated for agricultural losses from hurricanes, floods, tornadoes and other weather events.
So far, the agency has provided over $6.7 billion in payments, according to the press release. Producers in Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine and Massachusetts are not eligible for SDRP program payments, as their states will be receiving block grant funding for crop losses.
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