USDA Finalizes Supplemental Disaster Relief Program Stage 2

Smith: The American Relief Act, passed in late 2024, authorized the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program, and applications for farmers and ranchers are now open. Danny Munch, an economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, said the program provides relief from natural disasters that occurred in 2023 and 2024.

Munch: The first stage of SDRP compensated growers with existing crop insurance or non-insured disaster assistance plans, while the second stage is intended to fill all the remaining gaps for farmers who still haven't received compensation. So that includes uninsured crops, which often includes specialty crops. It includes value-loss crops, on-farm storage losses, milk losses, as well as providing some payments for folks who had shallow losses, as well as quality losses.

Smith: Munch says this program shares some similarities with previous disaster assistance programs, but also some key differences.

Munch: This second stage matches WHIP+ much more closely, which had a much more substantial documentation requirement, and there was a lot of variation across crops. There is no progressive factoring like in ERP 2022, which drastically reduced prices farmers received. Each crop at each loss category has its own calculation. That means they're going to be going through quite a lot of calculations to come up with their final number.

Smith: Munch says there are still some details we need to learn, but visiting with your local FSA office is the best first step.

Munch: Give given how complex the program is, many FSA offices are far behind in understanding how the calculations work. Really make sure all your usual FSA forms are on file. A big piece of this is going to be remaining understanding as all these staff people learn how the program works.

Smith: Learn more on the Market Intel page at fb.org. Chad Smith, Washington.