U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced additional disaster assistance available to agricultural producers, including producers impacted by drought and excess moisture as well as sugar beet growers. Through WHIP+, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is helping producers recover from losses related to 2018 and 2019 natural disasters.
USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) will open signup on March 23 for producers to apply for eligible losses of drought (D3 or above) and excess moisture. USDA is also entering into agreements with six sugar beet processing cooperatives to distribute $285 million to grower members of those cooperatives who experienced loss.
“It’s true that farmers and ranchers are no strangers to the impact natural disasters have on their operations, but disaster events the past two years have been atypically widespread, relentless and unforgiving,” Secretary Perdue said. “In some instances, producers have suffered multiple disaster events in one year or in several years back-to-back. I am pleased that Congress has afforded USDA the authority to continue providing much-needed assistance to producers who have lost so much these last few years. President Trump has the backs of our farmers, and we aim to support them as they recover.”
In June 2019, more than $3 billion was made available through a disaster relief package passed by Congress and signed by President Trump. In December 2019, Congress passed, and President Trump signed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020 that provides an additional $1.5 billion for the continuation of disaster assistance program delivery.
WHIP+ New Qualifying Disaster Events
The bill added excessive moisture and D3 and D4 drought as qualifying losses for WHIP+ assistance.
Beginning March 23, producers who suffered either of these types of loss in 2018 and/or 2019 can apply for WHIP+ assistance at their local FSA office. For drought, a producer is eligible if any area of the county in which the loss occurred was rated D3 (Extreme Drought) or higher on the U.S. Drought Monitor during calendar years 2018 or 2019.
WHIP+ Sugar Beet Loss Assistance
As also directed in the bill, USDA will provide $285 million through sugar beet processing cooperatives to compensate grower members for sugar beet crop losses in 2018 and 2019. Details will be finalized in agreements between USDA and participating sugar beet processing cooperatives. Sugar beet producers who are members of these cooperatives and experienced losses may contact their cooperative for more information about how this sugar beet crop assistance will be administered.
WHIP+ for Quality Loss
In addition, producers have reported widespread crop quality loss from eligible disaster events that results in price deductions or penalties when marketing the damaged crops. The Appropriations bill expands WHIP+ to include assistance for crop quality loss. FSA is gathering data and input from producers and stakeholders regarding the extent and types of quality loss nationwide.
“Providing assistance for quality loss is complicated, and we are actively gathering data and input on how to administer quality loss assistance for producers,” said Farm Production and Conservation Undersecretary Bill Northey.
Eligibility
To be eligible for WHIP+, producers must have suffered losses of certain crops, trees, bushes, or vines in counties with a Presidential Emergency Disaster Declaration or a Secretarial Disaster Designation (primary counties only) for the following named natural disaster events; hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, typhoons, volcanic activity, snowstorms, wildfires, and now excessive moisture that occurred in 2018 or 2019. Also, losses located in a county not designated by the Secretary as a primary county may be eligible if the producer provides documentation showing that the loss was due to a qualifying natural disaster event.
For drought, counties having a D3 or D4 Drought Monitor classification in any portion of the county anytime during calendar year 2018 or 2019 will also be eligible.
Indiana Counties
Adams: 2019 only
Allen: 2019 only
Bartholomew: 2019 only
Benton: 2018 only
Blackford: 2019 only
Boone: 2019 only
Brown: 2019 only
Carroll: 2018 and 2019
Cass: 2019 only
Clark: 2018 and 2019
Clay: 2019 only
Clinton: 2019 only
Crawford: 2018 and 2019
Daviess: 2019 only
Dearborn: 2018 and 2019
Decatur: 2019 only
DeKalb: 2019 only
Delaware: 2019 only
Dubois: 2019 only
Elkhart: 2018 and 2019
Fayette: 2019 only
Floyd: 2018 and 2019
Franklin: 2019 only
Fulton: 2018 and 2019
Gibson: 2018 and 2019
Grant: 2019 only
Greene: 2019 only
Hancock: 2019 only
Harrison: 2018 and 2019
Hendricks: 2019 only
Henry: 2019 only
Howard: 2019 only
Huntington: 2019 only
Jackson: 2019 only
Jasper: 2018 and 2019
Jay: 2019 only
Jefferson: 2018 and 2019
Jennings: 2019 only
Johnson: 2019 only
Knox: 2019 only
Kosciusko: 2018 and 2019
LaGrange: 2019 only
Lake: 2018 only
LaPorte: 2018 and 2019
Lawrence: 2019 only
Madison: 2019 only
Marion: 2019 only
Marshall: 2018 and 2019
Martin: 2019 only
Miami: 2019 only
Monroe: 2019 only
Montgomery: 2019 only
Morgan: 2019 only
Newton: 2018 and 2019
Noble: 2019 only
Ohio: 2018 and 2019
Orange: 2019 only
Owen: 2019 only
Perry: 2018 only
Pike: 2019 only
Porter: 2018 only
Posey: 2019 only
Pulaski: 2018 and 2019
Putnam: 2019 only
Randolph: 2019 only
Ripley: 2019 only
Scott: 2019 only
Spencer: 2018 only
St. Joseph: 2018 and 2019
Starke: 2018 and 2019
Steuben: 2019 only
Sullivan: 2019 only
Switzerland: 2018 and 2019
Tippecanoe: 2019 only
Union: 2019 only
Vanderburgh: 2018 and 2019
Vermillion: 2018 only
Vigo: 2019 only
Wabash: 2018 and 2019
Warren: 2018 only
Warrick: 2018 and 2019
Washington: 2019 only
Wayne: 2019 only
Wells: 2019 only
White: 2018 and 2019
Whitley: 2019 only
A list of counties that received qualifying hurricane declarations and designations is available at farmers.gov/recover/whip-plus. The U.S. Drought Monitor is available at https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/.
Because livestock losses are covered by other disaster recovery programs offered through FSA, these losses are not eligible for WHIP+.