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Additional disaster aid included in omnibus bill

The omnibus spending bill passed by Congress in the lame duck session will provide $3.7 billion in ad-hoc disaster aid to farmers. Ag lobbyist Tom Sell tells Brownfield the funding will benefit crop and livestock producers despite being smaller than previous years.

“Just like they included a provision for livestock losses in 2021, this round of drought relief also carved out $450 million for livestock losses. The drought was widespread.”

Sell says he expects the USDA to implement the funding similarly to what’s been done in the past.

“USDA will have to go through the process of writing a rule and then, follow that rule. It will take time and won’t likely happen in the first quarter of 2023. It will likely occur probably in the spring or early summer months.”

USDA is also working on the second phase of the 2021 disaster relief. Sell says the USDA could have an update on the current Emergency Relief Program in January.