News

Second phase disaster aid coming soon

USDA will roll out additional disaster aid by the end of the year. The second phase of USDA’s Emergency Relief Program will provide support to farmers who didn’t get funding in the first phase. Farm Service Agency Administrator Zach Ducheneaux says phase two is revenue-based.

“The difference in revenue based on the eligible disaster and a reference year. Think about your normal production and the impacts disasters have had on your operation, taking a wholistic approach, helping replace lost revenue.”

Ducheneaux tells Brownfield qualifying producers will be notified from USDA with more details in early 2023.

“We’ll do our best to do outreach and get information to the producers we’ve got a record of, but we’re going to use a cooperator network to help reach into those places where we typically don’t have a presence.”

South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa are three of the top five states receiving disaster assistance. So far, the FSA has paid more than $7.1 billion to farmers across the country through the ERP.