Natural Disaster & Emergency Assistance Programs
Related Amber Waves Articles
Disaster assistance is provided to farmers through natural
disaster assistance programs, crop yield and revenue
insurance, and emergency and supplemental assistance.
USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) operates disaster assistance programs to assist farmers
who encounter natural disasters from drought, flood, freeze,
tornadoes, and other natural calamities. These programs include the
Emergency Conservation Program, the Noninsured Crop Disaster
Assistance Program (NAP), the Disaster Debt Set-Aside Program, and
the Emergency Loan Program.
USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA) operates a program of
subsidized crop insurance. To participate in the program, producers
choose among a variety of
yield and revenue insurance plans. Producers pay a portion of
the premium for the insurance. The amount of expected yield or
revenue that a producer insures is determined annually.
Agricultural Disaster Relief Trust Fund
The 2008 Farm Act created the Agricultural Disaster Relief Trust
Fund, with 3.08 percent of receipts attributable to duties
collected on articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for
consumption under the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule to fund Supplemental Agricultural
Disaster Assistance (SADA). Amounts not required to meet current
withdrawals may be invested in U.S. Treasury obligations with
interest credited to the Trust Fund. The Trust Fund may also borrow
as repayable advances, with interest, sums necessary to carry out
purposes of the fund.
Supplemental Agricultural Disaster Assistance
Supplemental Agricultural Disaster Assistance provides disaster
assistance payments to producers of eligible commodities (crops,
farm-raised fish, honey, and livestock) in counties declared by the
Secretary of Agriculture to be "disaster counties," including
counties contiguous to disaster counties and any farms with losses
in normal production of more than 50 percent. Supplemental
Agricultural Disaster Assistance is effective only for losses
incurred as the result of a disaster, adverse weather, or other
environmental condition that occurs on or before September 30,
2011. Five disaster assistance programs are included:
Supplemental Revenue
Program (SURE) makes payments to eligible producers
on farms in disaster counties that incurred crop production or
crop-quality losses or both during the crop year. SURE provides
payments of 60 percent of the difference (greater than zero)
between the disaster assistance program guarantee revenue and
actual total farm revenue.
The disaster assistance program
guarantee is the sum of:
- 115 percent of the insured value of each insurable
commodity
- insured value = 100 percent of price election x acres insured x
coverage level x yield, where yield is the higher of the adjusted
actual production history yield or the
counter-cyclical payment (CCP) program yield
- 120 percent of value of noninsurable commodity(ies) = 100
percent of NAP price x acres planted x the higher of the adjusted
NAP yield or the CCP program yield
Actual total farm revenue is the sum
of the following:
Livestock Indemnity
Program makes payments available to eligible
producers for livestock death losses, in excess of normal
mortality, resulting from adverse weather. The indemnity payment
rate is 75 percent of market value of applicable livestock on the
day before death, as determined by the Secretary of
Agriculture.
Livestock Forage
Disaster Program payments are available to eligible
producers of covered livestock for grazing losses because of
drought or fire on public managed land. Payment rates are based on
monthly feed costs.
The monthly feed cost equals the
product of the following:
- The feed-grain equivalent of 15.7 pounds of corn per day for an
adult beef cow, or for any other weight of livestock, a value that
represents the average number of pounds of corn per day necessary
to feed the livestock as determined by the Secretary of
Agriculture
- A payment rate that is equal to the corn price per pound: 56
pounds per bushel multiplied by the higher of the national average
corn price per bushel for the 12-month or 24-month period
immediately preceding March 1 of the year for which the disaster
assistance is calculated
Emergency Assistance
Program for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-Raised
Fish provides emergency relief to eligible producers
of livestock, honey bees, and farm-raised fish for losses due to
disease, adverse weather, or other conditions not covered by the
Livestock Indemnity Program or by the Livestock Forage Disaster
Program. Total payments are limited to $50 million per year.
Orchard and Nursery Tree Assistance
Program provides assistance to eligible orchardists
and nursery tree growers for trees lost to natural disasters.
Assistance includes reimbursement of 70 percent of the cost of
replanting trees in excess of normal mortality and reimbursement of
50 percent of the cost of salvaging damaged trees and preparing
land to replant trees.
For More Information...