Agricultural Disaster Indemnity Programs

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE <SUBAGY>Farm Service Agency</SUBAGY> <CFR>7 CFR Part 760</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket ID FSA-2025-0007]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 0560-AI81</RIN> <SUBJECT>Agricultural Disaster Indemnity Programs</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Farm Service Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is issuing this rule to provide assistance for eligible quality losses under Stage 1 of the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP) and to implement Stage 2 of SDRP, the On-Farm Stored Commodity Loss Program (OFSCLP), and the Milk Loss Program (MLP), all of which will provide assistance using funding authorized by the American Relief Act, 2025. SDRP provides payments to eligible producers for losses of crops, trees, bushes, and vines due to qualifying disaster events that occurred in calendar year 2023 or 2024. SDRP Stage 1 uses a streamlined process for eligible crop, tree, and vine losses that were previously indemnified under Federal crop insurance or the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP), while SDRP Stage 2 covers losses of eligible crops, trees, bushes, and vines for which a producer did not have crop insurance or NAP coverage, as well as losses that were insured or covered by NAP but not severe enough to trigger an indemnity. OFSCLP provides payments to eligible producers who suffered uncompensated losses of harvested commodities stored in on-farm structures as a result of wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, excessive heat, tornadoes, winter storms, freeze, including a polar vortex, smoke exposure, qualifying drought, and related conditions that occurred in calendar year 2023 or 2024. MLP provides payments to eligible dairy operations for milk that was dumped or removed without compensation from the commercial milk market due to wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, excessive heat, tornadoes, winter storms, freeze (including a polar vortex), smoke exposure, excessive moisture, qualifying drought, and related conditions that occurred in calendar year 2023 or 2024. This rule specifies the administrative provisions, eligibility requirements, and payment calculations for these programs. It also announces deadlines and adds quality loss assistance provisions for SDRP Stage 1. This rule also extends the deadlines for the Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) 2023 and 2024 and ELRP 2023 and 2024 Flood and Wildfire (FW). </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This rule is effective on November 18, 2025. </EFFDATE> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> For SDRP, Kathy Sayers; telephone: (202) 720-6870; or email: <E T="03">Kathy.Sayers@usda.gov.</E> For OFSCLP, Shayla Watson; telephone: (202) 690-2350; or email: <E T="03">Shayla.Watson@usda.gov.</E> For MLP, Douglas E. Kilgore; telephone: (717) 887-0963; or email: <E T="03">Douglas.E.Kilgore@usda.gov.</E> Individuals with disabilities who require alternative means for communication should contact the USDA Target Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and text telephone (TTY mode)) or dial 711 for Telecommunications Relay Service (both voice and text telephone users can initiate this call from any telephone). </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Background</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. SDRP</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Stage 1 Quality Loss Payment Eligibility</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Stage 1 Quality Loss Payment Calculation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Stage 2 Eligible and Ineligible Losses</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Stage 2 Eligible Crops</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Stage 2 Eligible Acres</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Eligible Production</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">G. Stage 2 Payment Calculations</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">1. Insured and NAP-covered Crops</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">2. Uninsured Crops</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">3. Trees, Bushes, and Vines</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">H. How To Apply</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. OFSCLP</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Eligible Commodities</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Eligible Producers</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. How To Apply</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Payment Calculation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Payment Limitation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Miscellaneous Changes</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. MLP</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Affected Farmer Eligibility</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. How To Apply</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Payment Calculation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Payment Limitation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Miscellaneous Changes</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. ELRP 2023 and 2024 and ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VI. Regulatory Analyses</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Notice and Comment and Effective Date</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Executive Orders 12866, 13563, and 14192</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Cost Benefit Analysis Summary</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Environmental Review</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Executive Order 13175</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">G. Paperwork Reduction Act Requirements</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">H. E-Government Act Compliance</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Background</HD> Title I of the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2025 (Division B of the American Relief Act, 2025; Pub. L. 118-158; referred to as “the Act” in this document) provides “$30,780,000,000, to remain available until expended, for necessary expenses related to losses of revenue, quality or production of crops (including milk, on-farm stored commodities, crops prevented from planting, and harvested adulterated wine grapes), trees, bushes, and vines, as a consequence of droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, excessive heat, tornadoes, winter storms, freeze, including a polar vortex, smoke exposure, and excessive moisture occurring in calendar years 2023 and 2024 under such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture. . .”. FSA is using the funding provided in the Act to assist eligible producers through several programs. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  FSA previously announced the Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) 2023 and 2024, which provides assistance to livestock producers for losses due to qualifying drought and qualifying wildfire on federally managed land (90 FR 22614), and ELRP 2023 and 2024 Flood and Wildfire (FW), which provides assistance for losses due to floods and wildfires on non-federally managed land (90 FR 44299). FSA also previously announced the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP) Stage 1, which provides assistance to producers who suffered indemnified crop, tree, and vine losses due to qualifying disaster events (90 FR 30561). </FTNT> This final rule announces the deadline for all SDRP applications, including applications for Stage 1 losses addressed in the previous final rule  <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> , and specifies how FSA will implement assistance for SDRP Stage 1 quality losses. It amends the SDRP regulations to add information about eligibility requirements, the application process, and payment calculations for SDRP Stage 2. This final rule also amends the regulations for OFSCLP and MLP to update information about eligibility requirements, the application process, and payment calculations for assistance authorized under the Act. <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  See 90 FR 30561. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. SDRP</HD> SDRP is using approximately $16.09 billion of the authorized $30.78 billion in funding to assist producers who suffered losses of crops, trees, bushes, or vines due to qualifying disaster events. FSA is administering SDRP in two stages. On July 10, 2025, FSA announced SDRP Stage 1, which uses a streamlined process with pre-filled application forms for eligible losses of crops, trees, and vines for which a producer received a Federal crop insurance indemnity under certain policies or a NAP payment. <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>  See 90 FR 30561. </FTNT> This rule amends the Stage 1 provisions in 7 CFR part 760, subpart V, to provide program deadlines and additional assistance for eligible quality losses for certain crops previously included in Stage 1. This rule also adds provisions for Stage 2 to subpart V. Stage 2 provides payments for eligible crops, trees, and vines that were covered by Federal crop insurance or NAP but had losses that were not severe enough to result in an indemnity or NAP payment, referred to as “shallow” losses. The Stage 2 payment calculations for those crops are similar to the calculations used for Stage 1, which were based on the calculation specified in the crop's insurance or NAP policy and used an SDRP factor that varied based on the crop insurance or NAP coverage level. Stage 2 also provides payments for losses of eligible crops, trees, bushes and vines that were not covered by Federal crop insurance or NAP. The payment calculations for uninsured crops, trees, bushes, and vines are similar to the previous 2017 Wildfires and Hurricanes Indemnity Program (2017 WHIP) and the Wildfires and Hurricanes Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) (see 7 CFR part 760, subpart O). This rule also makes minor clarifications to existing provisions throughout the subpart where needed to clarify their applicability to Stage 1 and Stage 2. The Stage 1 final rule published on July 10, 2025, provided the general administrative and eligibility provisions that apply to all SDRP payments, including producer eligibility criteria (7 CFR 760.2203). As provided in § 760.2202, qualifying disaster events for SDRP include wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, excessive heat, tornadoes, winter storms, freeze (including a polar vortex), smoke exposure, excessive moisture, qualifying drought, and rel ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 236k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━