Trump administration announces crop disaster aid
On Nov. 17, President Donald J. Trump and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture will continue to support farmers and will release billions in disaster assistance for those recovering from natural disasters across the country.
“President Trump continues to put farmers first and provide relief to American farmers reeling from the devastating natural disasters that struck across the United States in 2023 and 2024,” Rollins said. “The continued financial success of our farming and ranching operations is a national security priority.”
The majority of payments from the first stage are already in the hands of producers helping them prepare for and invest in the next crop year, she said.
“The U.S. Department of Agriculture is releasing the second stage of crop disaster assistance for farmers impacted by natural disasters in crop years 2023-24,” said U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-KS, who called the announcement good news. “This provides crucial resources to help producers safeguard their livelihoods and continue answering the call to feed the world.”
USDA’s Farm Service Agency is delivering more than $16 billion in total Congressionally approved supplemental disaster relief program assistance. This is on top of more than $9.3 billion in emergency commodity assistance program assistance to more than 560,000 row crop farmers and over $705 million in emergency livestock relief program assistance to more than 220,000 ranchers. Stage Two of SDRP covers eligible crop, tree, bush and vine losses that were not covered under Stage One program provisions, including non-indemnified (shallow loss), uncovered and quality losses. For Stage Two program details, including fact sheets, visit fsa.usda.gov/sdrp.
The first stage, announced in July, remains available to producers who received an indemnity under crop insurance or the noninsured crop disaster assistance program for eligible crop losses due to qualifying 2023 and 2024 natural disaster events. FSA county offices will begin accepting SDRP Stage Two applications on Nov. 24. Producers have until April 30, to apply for both Stage One and Stage Two assistance.
Since March 2025, USDA has supported U.S. farmers and ranchers with more than $16 billion in supplemental disaster assistance mandated by Congress in the American Relief Act, 2025.
Milk and on-farm stored crop loss assistance
The milk loss program provides up to $1.65 million in payments to eligible dairy operations for milk that was dumped or removed without compensation from the commercial milk market because of a qualifying natural disaster event in 2023 and/or 2024.
Producers who suffered losses of eligible harvested commodities while stored in on-farm structures in 2023 and/or 2024 due to a qualifying natural disaster event may be eligible for assistance through the on-farm stored commodity loss program, which provides for up to $5 million to impacted producers.
The enrollment period to apply for milk and on-farm stored commodity losses is Nov. 24 through Jan. 23. Information and fact sheets for both programs are available online at fsa.usda.gov/mlp for milk loss and fsa.usda.gov/ofsclp for on-farm stored commodity losses.
