WASHINGTON, D.C. – While Congress routinely provides relief for ranchers and farmers impacted by natural disasters, the lack of a permanent program has resulted in multiple administrative changes, which can cause unnecessary delays in implementation and confusion for farmers.
The Agricultural Emergency Relief Act has been introduced in Congress to create a permanent structure at the Agriculture Department to provide relief for farmers who lost crops due to natural disasters.
The Agricultural Emergency Relief Act would:
- Create a permanent structure of the USDA’s Emergency Relief Program.
- The program was originally established through language in the fiscal year 2022 emergency supplemental appropriations bill and received additional appropriations in the fiscal year 2023 omnibus, but has not been formally authorized.
- Include as eligible disasters droughts, wildfires, floods, hurricanes, derechos, excessive heat, excessive moisture, winter storms and freeze events, including polar vortexes.
- Require farmers who apply for relief payments to purchase crop insurance for two years after receiving a payment.
- Allow payment calculations to be based on indemnities reported to USDA or on losses in revenue to better accommodate specialty crop growers.
- Allow Congress to continue to appropriate supplemental disaster funds in response to the level of damage incurred in a specific year or event.
“California has been ground zero for the impacts of climate change, and ranchers, farmers and growers in our state and across our country are seeing the impact of climate-related disasters on their crops,” said Thompson. “I authored legislation to create the Emergency Relief Program to provide our agriculture community with financial relief to cover disaster-related crop losses, but as climate change continues to worsen, it’s clear that this program needs to be made permanent. Proud to have introduced legislation with Senators Feinstein and Padilla and Representative LaMalfa to make the Emergency Relief Program permanent and streamline the process for all ranchers, farmers and growers to receive the relief that deserve.”
Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla, both California Democrats, and Reps. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., introduced the legislation.
