Washington, D.C., July 9, 2025 – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins
announced today that agricultural producers who suffered eligible crop losses
due to natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 can now apply for $16 billion in
assistance through the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP).
To expedite the implementation of SDRP, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is
delivering assistance in two stages. This first stage is open to producers with
eligible crop losses that received assistance under crop insurance or the
Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program during 2023 and 2024. Stage
One sign up will start in person at FSA county offices on July 10 and prefilled
applications are being mailed to producers today, July 9. SDRP Stage Two
signups for eligible shallow or uncovered losses will begin in early fall.
“American farmers are no stranger to natural disasters that cause losses that
leave no region or crop unscathed. Under President Trump’s leadership, USDA
has worked around the clock to deliver this relief directly to our farmers,” said
Secretary Rollins. “We are taking swift action to ensure farmers will have the
resources they need to continue to produce the safest, most reliable, and most
abundant food supply in the world.”
This announcement follows Secretary Rollins’ comprehensive plan to deliver the
total amount of Congressionally appropriated $30 billion in disaster assistance to farmers and ranchers this year. These programs will complement the
forthcoming state block grants that USDA is working with 14 different states to
develop. This expeditious timeline is in direct contrast to the Biden
Administration’s USDA where disaster relief programs took an average of 13
months—and in one case 19 months—to reach farmers and ranchers.
To date, USDA has issued more than $7.8 billion in Emergency Commodity
Assistance Program (ECAP) payments to more than half a million eligible
producers. Additionally, USDA has provided over $1 billion in emergency relief
through the Emergency Livestock Relief Program to producers who suffered
grazing losses due to drought or wildfires in calendar years 2023 and 2024.
USDA disaster assistance information can be found on farmers.gov, including the
Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster-at-a-Glance fact sheet, Loan
Assistance Tool, and the FarmRaise online FSA education hub. Payment details
will be updated here weekly. For more information, contact your local USDA
Service Center.
Program Details:
SDRP Stage One
FSA is launching a streamlined, pre-filled application process for eligible crop,
tree, and vine losses by leveraging existing Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance
Program (NAP) and Risk Management Agency (RMA) indemnified loss data. The
pre-filled applications will be mailed on July 9, 2025.
Eligibility
Eligible losses must be the result of natural disasters occurring in calendar years
2023 and/or 2024. These disasters include wildfires, hurricanes, floods,
derechos, excessive heat, tornadoes, winter storms, freeze (including a polar
vortex), smoke exposure, excessive moisture, qualifying drought, and related
conditions.
To qualify for drought related losses, the loss must have occurred in a county
rated by the U.S. Drought Monitor as having a D2 (severe drought) for eight
consecutive weeks, D3 (extreme drought), or greater intensity level during the
applicable calendar year.
Producers in Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, and Massachusetts will not be eligible
for SDRP program payments. Instead, these states chose to cover eligible crop,
tree, bush, and vine losses through separate block grants. These block grants are
funded through the $220M provided for this purpose to eligible states in the
American Relief Act.
How to Apply
To apply for SDRP, producers must submit the FSA-526, Supplemental Disaster
Relief Program (SDRP) Stage One Application, in addition to having other forms on
file with FSA.
SDRP Stage One Payment Calculation
Stage One payments are based on the SDRP adjusted NAP or Federal crop
insurance coverage level the producer purchased for the crop. The net NAP or
net federal crop insurance payments (NAP or crop insurance indemnities minus
administrative fees and premiums) will be subtracted from the SDRP calculated
payment amount.
For Stage One, the total SDRP payment to indemnified producers will not exceed
90% of the loss and an SDRP payment factor of 35% will be applied to all Stage
One payments. If additional SDRP funds remain, FSA may issue a second
payment.
Future Insurance Coverage Requirements
All producers who receive SDRP payments are required to purchase federal crop
insurance or NAP coverage for the next two available crop years at the 60%
coverage level or higher. Producers who fail to purchase crop insurance for the
next two available crop years will be required to refund the SDRP payment, plus
interest, to USDA.
SDRP Stage 2
FSA will announce additional SDRP assistance for uncovered losses, including
non-indemnified shallow losses and quality losses and how to apply later this fall.
