Information By Representatives Zoe Lofgren (CA-18), Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), and Salud Carbajal (CA-24):
We’ve visited muddy farms, damaged levees, flooded businesses, and homes and ranches under water. We’ve met with producers, farmers and farmworkers who are not sure what the next crop will look like after land was saturated by the repeated storms in January and March. And we’ve made a vow: to support the Central Coast’s agriculture during recovery.
It seems many in our communities don’t know how the federal government can help and we are here to provide some information about the disaster assistance programs that could be useful at this tough time. Don’t get bogged down by the alphabet soup of acronyms – just read through the descriptions below and call our offices or your local United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) service center if you have questions.
USDA has a variety of programs to help restore land to a productive state:
- The Emergency Conservation Program(ECP) helps cover costs to restore damaged private land to a productive state.
- The Emergency Forest Restoration Program(EFRP) provides assistance in restoring forest health and related resources on private, nonindustrial forestland.
- The Emergency Watershed Protection(EWP) provides community-wide support and technical assistance to restore a watershed, including repairing levees and removing debris from stream channels. Projects must be sponsored by a state or local government or tribal organization.
- The Environmental Quality Incentives Program(EQIP) while not designed as an emergency program, can potentially be used to manage damage from natural disasters or prevent future damages through conservation practices.
USDA also has multiple programs to help producers recover financially:
- Crop Insurance is provided to producers that purchased a policy prior to planting and can cover yield, revenue, or margin losses.
- The Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) covers part of losses for in excess of a minimum loss threshold for those who enrolled prior to losses. Underserved producers are automatically eligible for NAP coverage however, even if they did not enroll prior.
- The Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) covers livestock deaths or injuries that result in a reduced sale price.
- The Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-Raised Fish (ELAP) covers losses not covered by LIP due to weather, disease, or feed or water shortages.
- The Tree Assistance Program (TAP) covers part of the cost to replant or rehabilitate trees, bushes, and vines damaged by natural disasters from which an annual crop is produced. Crop insurance or NAP generally covers the crop, while TAP covers the tree, bush, or vine itself.
- Emergency Disaster Loans are low-interest loans provided in counties with declared disasters or adjoining counties.
- The Disaster Set-Aside Program can be used in counties with declared disasters or adjoining counties, whereby USDA defers one full year’s loan payment to the end of the loan.
Additional assistance may also be available on top of these programs. For example, damage to homes or private access roads on farms may be eligible for FEMA assistance, and farmworkers who are out of work may be eligible for Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA).
Congress also has the power to pass supplemental disaster relief, including through USDA’s Emergency Relief Program to cover revenue losses caused by a natural disaster for both producers who had crop insurance or NAP coverage and those who did not. We’re urging all our colleagues to pass this for California’s producers.