Pressure builds for ad hoc disaster assistance

Between wildfires and hurricanes, farmers and ranchers have faced billions of dollars in losses over the last few months, and many lives have been lost.

In response, members of Congress are gearing up to provide some type of ad hoc disaster assistance, but it remains unclear whether any type of disaster package will provide enough funds and flexibility to help producers recover and stay in business.

Consider just some of the recent disasters.

• More than 110,000 acres have burned across western North Dakota, and some fires are still active.
• Oregon farmers and ranchers witnessed fires across 1.2 million acres, and more than 1 million acres have burned across California.
• Hurricane Helene swept across the southeastern part of the United States, taking at least 230 lives and leaving agriculture operations and infrastructure in shambles. Nearly 100,000 farms were in Helene’s direct path, according to the 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture data analyzed by the American Farm Bureau Federation. 
• Hurricane Milton’s winds blew across a large section of Florida agriculture. AFBF estimates more than $5.7 billion in damages to Florida’s agricultural sector.

Bart Fischer, a former House Agriculture Committee economist who now serves as co-director, Agricultural & Food Policy Center at Texas A & M University, says he’s hearing $20 billion is the range for a new ad hoc disaster package. However, that could change, depending on whether it covers losses for both 2023 and 2024.

“Not to sound crass, but nothing motivates Congress like a disaster,” Fischer told participants at the North Carolina Chamber’s Ag Allies Conference recently about what to expect over the next few months in Congress.

“They’re going to come back from the election and be motivated to get something done,” he added.

Fischer noted that some people point to crop insurance, which has long been at the core of the farm safety net, as all a grower should need. However, with lower commodity prices for crops like cotton, some growers might not have purchased higher levels of coverage.

“Crop insurance is incredibly important, but if you’re insuring well below your cost of production, that’s not going to keep you in business.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates 38,000 crop insurance policies were in place on 4.8 million acres of land impacted by Hurricane Helene. Risk Management Agency Administrator Marcia Bunger said loss adjusters would be brought in from other states to help with the damage assessment to speed up the process.

As part of previous farm bills, USDA already has several other programs in place to help farmers and ranchers hit by disasters.

The agency extended signups for the Emergency Conservation Program and Emergency Forest Restoration Program and urged local Farm Service Agency offices to “exercise maximum flexibility” in analyzing loss documentation through the Livestock Indemnity Program, which compensates producers for disaster-related livestock deaths.

Assistance is also available through the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program and the Tree Assistance Program. Producers with Marketing Assistance Loans through the agency will receive additional time to deliver commodities to buyers.

Fischer said ad hoc disaster packages aren’t perfect, but growers are often frustrated by how the USDA has implemented some programs, like the Emergency Relief Program.

Payments for 2022 are under a federal court injunction that prohibits the USDA from making or increasing payments based on the “socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher” designation.

Are there any perfect solutions?

 “No one really likes disaster assistance,” Fischer explained. “It’s always after the fact, and no one likes operating that way.”

He pointed out that a lot of what is needed for disaster assistance points to shortcomings or areas where the farm bill needs to be improved.

“In a perfect world, we would see farm bill improvements to the point we don’t need all of this disaster assistance,” he said.

But for now, there’s no new farm bill coming anytime soon, although some members say that it’s still possible to pass one after the November elections.

Fischer says there’s more immediate pressure on Congress to pass a disaster assistance package that may sidestep USDA delivery and go directly to states in the form of block grants.

He said, “I won’t be surprised if we start to see legislation that’s a little more prescriptive and vastly simplified.”

Editor’s note: Sara Wyant is publisher of Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc., www.Agri-Pulse.com.