The U.S. Department of Agriculture has opened applications for Stage Two of the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program, offering up to $16 billion in financial assistance to eligible producers who experienced revenue, quality, or production losses due to disaster events in 2023 and 2024.
Applications for the second stage of the program are now open, providing relief for losses to crops, trees, bushes, or vines that resulted from a wide range of qualifying disasters, including hurricanes, wildfires, excessive heat, cold, and drought. The sign-up period will extend until April 30, 2026.
Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation, Richard Fordyce, encourages producers to seek guidance.
“The Supplemental Disaster Relief Program is a pretty complex program,” Fordyce explains. “My advice to growers, producers, farmers, is reach out to your local county FSA office, potentially set up an appointment, and then they can steer you to a checklist.”
He says the checklist will help producers gather the necessary documentation based on their commodity and the natural disaster they were exposed to.
Fordyce is a corn, soybean, and cattle farmer from northwest Missouri. His start at USDA was immediately complicated by a government shutdown following his confirmation. The undersecretary noted the challenges of the period, particularly for conservation efforts.
“Missed some opportunities to get some conservation on the landscape, whether that was a construction project or doing some project related to conservation,” he says.
While some previously approved projects continued, Fordyce says new or unfinished projects had to wait until the shutdown ended. Now, with the launch of SDRP Stage Two, the USDA is back to full operational capacity, focusing on supporting American farmers.
