For Immediate Release
Contact: Laura Zaks
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
press@sustainableagriculture.net
Release: To Meet Farmers’ Diverse Recovery Needs, Disaster Relief Must Include Revenue-Based Assistance
From drought and wildfire to hurricanes, an array of natural disasters throughout 2024 highlight the need for disaster assistance to reach all farmers
Washington, DC, October 8, 2024 – As the second major hurricane in as many weeks approaches the Southeast United States, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) has maintained close contact with member organizations from western North Carolina to the Florida peninsula. Initial reports of total loss from farmers in the region are sobering and still emerging. As the Administration and Congress chart a path toward disaster relief, NSAC strongly believes that any approach must include a revenue-based disaster assistance option.
“Natural disasters indiscriminately and increasingly impact countless farmers and ranchers every year, regardless of farm size, production, location, or their familiarity with the Department of Agriculture and its programs. It’s therefore essential for policymakers to respond with an accessible model of revenue-based relief, which reflects a farmers’ actual market price and expenses, not their prior capacity to enroll in federal programs,” said Mike Lavender, NSAC policy director. “The revenue-based assistance model is a streamlined and responsive option that can meet the diverse recovery needs of all farmers.”
To respond to losses from 2020 and 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) unveiled the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) Phase 2, which included a novel option that allowed farmers to submit tax records to prove revenue loss associated with a qualifying disaster rather than requiring previous enrollment in a federal crop insurance or permanent disaster program, which includes the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP). This was the first time that congressionally authorized supplemental disaster assistance was accessible to the small to mid-sized and diversified farmers who are often unable to access farm safety net programs.
“Our staff have spent the past week on the phone with impacted farmers,” said RAFI Executive Director Edna Rodriguez. “In addition to taking care of their own—and often their neighbors’—immediate needs, farmers are dealing with flooded fields and crops, damaged infrastructure, destroyed feed, soil loss, and livestock that were killed or who no longer have access to water. So far, none of the farmers we have spoken with have crop insurance or NAP policies. The scale of this disaster is huge, and we need a response from Congress that meets the need for everyone, regardless of farm size.”
“The devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene is only the latest in a string of more frequent disasters, from wildfires to hail storms. It’s sufficient cause to pause and re-evaluate our approach to agricultural risk management with a holistic eye toward a stronger future,” said Billy Hackett, NSAC Policy Specialist. “Yes, responsive farm policy must always support farmers in crisis. Proactive risk management policy must also center investments that help farmers adopt diversified business models and soil health practices that build resilience, which can in turn mitigate and even prevent future losses. That both-and approach is the only sustainable path to keep farmers on the land and preserve rural communities.”
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About the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is a grassroots alliance that advocates for federal policy reform supporting the long-term social, economic, and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities. Learn more and get involved at: https://sustainableagriculture.net
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