Speaking on a recent segment of Agri-Talk, USDA Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Richard Fordyce issued an urgent call to action for fresh produce and row crop growers about key deadlines approaching for major federal disaster assistance programs.
During the broadcast, Fordyce highlighted streamlined rules for Stage 1 (insured) and Stage 2 (uninsured or over-insured) of the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP), noting the agency recently overhauled its quality loss process in direct response to producer feedback.
“We kind of rethought through how do we address quality loss,” he says. “Work that the folks here in Washington at headquarters in FSA and some experts around the country helped weigh in on and how could we address and better serve American agriculture related to that program and related to quality loss.”
With an Aug. 12 deadline looming for SDRP Stage 1 and Stage 2, Fordyce urged growers with potential quality losses to contact their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) office immediately to get on the agency register.
“We will work through your quality loss and help you get through that process and get that application finished,” he says.
Addressing the massive scope of the $16 billion program that covers 2023 and 2024 crop losses, Fordyce noted about 70% of funds have been distributed but FSA has reserved remaining funds for complex quality claims.
“We’re still holding that little bit left for these quality issues,” he says. “We encourage folks to think back to ’23 and ’24. If you got a discount, if you had quality issues, go see FSA. It’s highly likely if you had quality issues that we’ll be able to help you.”
Fordyce noted an even tighter deadline of Aug. 7 for the Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers program.
“We’re paying by the acre, different tiered payment rates,” he says. “It is the sister program to the farmer bridge assistance. … It’s based on 2025 acres for folks that have done an acreage report. We will do a payment by acre depending on that crop and where that crop falls into essentially four tiers.”
Regarding the proposed $10 billion economic relief package currently before Congress, Fordyce says the USDA “stands ready to implement” when the legislation passes. He added that the final distribution formula will depend on congressional provisions to ensure specialty crop growers receive an equitable share.
While a separate $1.1 billion disaster set-aside for specialty crops is allocated primarily for Florida specialty crop growers, Fordyce points out that the freeze damage extends to several states.
“We’ve got freeze issues in Pennsylvania, in Virginia, West Virginia, New York,” noting that helping those growers “May require another piece of legislation.”
