Federal Farm Disaster Relief Payments Doubled, Deadline Extended

(KNSI) — Farmers who suffered crop losses from natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 will receive additional federal assistance after the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it is doubling its Supplemental Disaster Relief Program payment factor.

The agency is raising payments from 35% to 70% of each producer’s calculated amount, meaning eligible farmers with approved applications will receive an additional 35% on top of what they’ve already been paid.

The application deadline has also been extended from April 30th to August 12th, 2026, for both Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the program. The USDA says it has distributed $6.7 billion through the program so far.

Stage 1 covers producers who received crop insurance or Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program payments for 2023 or 2024 losses. Stage 2 covers losses not included in Stage 1, including shallow, uncovered, and quality losses.

Eligible disasters include wildfires, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, winter storms, excessive heat, drought, smoke exposure, and related conditions. Drought losses require the affected county to have been rated at severe drought or worse for at least 8 consecutive weeks.

Over the past year, the USDA has supported U.S. farmers and ranchers with more than $17.9 billion in supplemental disaster assistance mandated by Congress in the American Relief Act of 2025. Beyond the SDRP payments, $9.3 billion has been distributed through the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program and nearly $1.9 billion through the Emergency Livestock Relief Program.

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