Sign up for disaster relief programs

Happy New Year to everyone from your local Farm Services Agency offices. Our staff are working diligently to administer our current programs and preparing for what is forthcoming.  Please review some program details below.

Livestock inventory

Attention livestock producers. It’s darn cold outside. With the start of the year, please take a documented inventory of your livestock. The Livestock Indemnity Program provides compensation for livestock losses due to an eligible disaster event above the normal mortality rates. This requires a satisfactory documented beginning inventory. Have your industry professional count noses on a farm visit. This may be the banker, veterinarian, nutritionist or others. It is prudent to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

FSA Supplemental Disaster Relief Program

FSA is now accepting applications for the second stage of crop disaster, milk loss and on-farm stored commodity loss assistance, delivering more than $16 billion in total Congressionally approved disaster relief. FSA is now accepting applications for assistance through the second stage of SDRP from agricultural producers who suffered eligible non-indemnified, uncovered or quality crop losses due to qualifying natural disasters in 2023 and 2024.

Stage Two 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. Although 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, Stage One assistance, 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.

The deadline to apply for both Stage One and Stage Two assistance is April 30.

Additionally, FSA is taking applications for assistance from producers who had to dump or remove milk from the commercial market and who incurred losses of eligible farm stored commodities due to qualifying disaster events in 2023 and 2024.

SDRP Stage Two program details

SDRP Stage Two provides assistance for eligible crop, tree, bush and vine losses not covered under Stage One, including:

— Non-indemnified losses (including shallow losses). Insured losses through federal crop insurance that did not trigger a crop insurance indemnity. Losses with NAP coverage that did not trigger an NAP payment.

— Uncovered losses (uninsured losses). Includes losses that were not insured through federal crop insurance or NAP.

— Quality losses. Includes quality losses to commodities indicated by: A decrease in value based on discounts due to the physical condition of the crop supported by applicable grading factors. A decline in the nutritional value of forage crops supported by documented forage tests. Producers will certify to an SDRP quality loss percentage.

FSA is establishing block grants with Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine and Massachusetts that cover crop losses; therefore, producers with losses on land physically located in these states are not eligible for SDRP program payments.

For information on program eligibility and to download an application checklist, visit fsa.usda.gov/sdrp.

More information will be provided in early 2026 regarding a separate enrollment period for quality losses covered by SDRP Stage One, as well as for insured producers in Puerto Rico who were not included in Stage One because data was not available when pre-filled applications were mailed.

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 deadline to apply for milk and on-farm stored commodity losses is Jan. 23, 2026. 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.

Happy New Year. We wish you and yours a safe, profitable and rewarding 2026.

Be proud of what you have accomplished this year.  We certainly are proud of you.

Farm Service Agency is an equal opportunity lender. Complaints about discrimination should be sent to: Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 20250. Visit www.fsa.usda.gov for application forms and updates on USDA programs.