As detailed in a previous Southern Ag Today article, the American Relief Act of 2025 was signed into law in December 2024 with the following key provisions:
- funded the government through March 14, 2025;
- extended the 2018 Farm Bill provisions through September 30, 2025; and
- provided the U.S. Department of Agriculture with $30.78 billion to deliver disaster recovery assistance to farmers and livestock producers. $10 billion was designated for economic losses and the remaining $20 billion was for physical losses.
As we noted in an article on July 3, 2025, sign-up for the economic loss program—the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP)—is underway. To date, nearly $8 billion has been provided to producers through ECAP. We also noted that USDA has released approximately $1 billion in Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) payments to affected producers, and enrollment for another $1 billion in ELRP aid for flooding losses is targeted to begin in mid-August. Last week, USDA announced that signup has begun for the highly-anticipated Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP) which targets $16 billion in assistance to producers for necessary expenses due to losses of revenue, quality or production of crops due to weather related events in 2023 and 2024. The remainder of this article will focus on SDRP.
Notably, SDRP is being rolled out to producers in two stages. Stage 1 is providing payments to producers for eligible crop, tree, and vine losses calculated using data already on file with USDA from previously issued Federal crop insurance indemnities and Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) payments. Stage 2 will target uncovered losses, including non-indemnified shallow losses and quality losses, and signup is estimated to begin in mid-September.
Following are a few of the questions we have received and our responses. While this is intended to serve as educational guidance, it is no substitute for consulting USDA’s SDRP landing page or for contacting your local FSA office as they ultimately are responsible for implementing the program.
- How do I know if Stage 1 applies to me? In Stage 1, USDA is using a streamlined, pre-filled application process for eligible crop, tree and vine losses leveraging existing NAP data as well as data on file with RMA for losses covered by certain federal crop insurance policies. If you expected to receive an application but did not, you can also consult the Final Rule (Page 30572) for more details, including the list of losses that aren’t covered. Otherwise, you can consult your local FSA office.
- If I get a pre-filled application for Stage 1, doesn’t that prove that I’m eligible? No! In an effort to ensure no one is left out, USDA is sending pre-filled applications (as detailed above) regardless of the cause of loss. But, it is up to you to determine if your losses were due to a qualifying disaster event that Congress chose to cover under SDRP (you can find that list here under “Eligibility”). If your losses were due to a qualifying disaster event, you will simply list that event in Block 18 on the SDRP application you receive in the mail.
- Does the loss I list on the SDRP application have to match the loss listed on my crop insurance loss records? In other words, do I need to go to my crop insurance agent to find out what losses were listed on my crop insurance loss forms? Not necessarily. You may have suffered from multiple loss events on the farm, even if all of those did not make it onto your crop insurance loss records. If you suffered from a qualifying disaster event (see above)—regardless of the loss event listed on your crop insurance records—you can self-certify to that event in Block 18 on your SDRP application. Please note that the FSA county committee will be keeping a close eye on applications to ensure that the loss event you listed is relevant and actually occurred in the county.
- If I had a loss on my farm but it’s not due to one of the “qualifying disaster events” covered by SDRP, shouldn’t I just pick one of the qualifying disaster events from the list and submit my application? No! While it may be very painful for a producer who had a loss that was due to an ineligible disaster event, the fact remains that Congress chose to cover only certain disaster events. If USDA is not covering your particular disaster event, it’s because Congress did not provide the authority for them to do so.
- What if I suffered from drought but my county did not meet the D2 and D3 thresholds established by Congress? If you are in a county that does not meet the D2 and D3 thresholds established by Congress (see the list of eligible counties here), you are not eligible to apply for SDRP based on “qualifying drought.” With that said, if you also suffered from another qualifying disaster event (e.g., excessive heat), you can self-certify by listing that loss event in Block 18 on the SDRP application. Again, note that the FSA county committee will be keeping a close eye on applications to ensure that the loss event you listed is relevant and actually occurred in the county.
- What if I have an error in the pre-filled parts of my application? Can I just mark them out and make corrections? No! USDA has made it clear that any handwritten changes to the pre-filled portions of the application will nullify the application. If the pre-filled portions are in error, you need to go back to the source (i.e., either your crop insurance agent for crop insurance records or to the local FSA office for NAP records). They can correct the underlying problem and updated applications can be re-printed by your local FSA office.
- My pre-filled application (Block 14) lists my “Estimated SDRP Payment.” Is that the amount I should expect to see deposited into my account? As we understand it, that is the gross payment BEFORE both the payment factor of 35% and payment limits are applied.
- Did USDA just make up the 35% factor? While we don’t know everything that went into determining the factor, consider the following: (1) USDA made clear that progressive factoring (i.e., applying different payment factors based on gender, race, etc—as was done in the previous Administration) would not be used in SDRP; (2) USDA presumably estimated the total expected SDRP payments relative to the total funding available and determined that 35% was appropriate; and (3) they had to ensure that funding was available for producers who have eligible losses in Stage 2. Notably, if funding is left over after all applications have been submitted, USDA could issue another round of payments to producers.
- Does the payment limit apply to each year separately (i.e., $125,000 for 2023 and $125,000 for 2024) or is it a combined limit? The payment limit applies separately to both 2023 and 2024.
- If I receive an SDRP payment, do I have to commit to purchase crop insurance going forward? Yes, generally, producers receiving aid must maintain crop insurance or NAP coverage for the next two years at 60% or higher, or repay the assistance with interest.
- Are all states eligible for SDRP? This round of disaster assistance was somewhat different than the past. Congress chose to provide assistance in the form of block grants to Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, and Massachusetts. As a result, they are excluded from SDRP but will use state block grants funded by the American Relief Act of 2025 to compensate producers for losses.
We plan to update this as additional information becomes available. Importantly, as noted above, you should use the information in this article simply as educational guidance. For any questions related to your specific application/circumstances or for official guidance on the operation of SDRP, it is important to consult USDA’s SDRP landing page and/or reach out to your local FSA office.
Outlaw, Joe, and Bart L. Fischer. “Supplemental Disaster Relief Program Sign-up Announced.” Southern Ag Today 5(29.4). July 17, 2025. Permalink
