U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) made requested adjustments to disaster assistance for producers:

“I’m pleased to see the U.S. Department of Agriculture heed our calls in Congress to improve disaster assistance for agriculture producers. These adjustments will provide much-needed relief for North Dakota farmers and ranchers who suffered from disaster-related losses in 2020 and 2021. I look forward to continuing to work with Department to ensure producers receive assistance,” said Senator Cramer. 

Producers will soon receive new or updated pre-filled disaster applications to offset eligible crop losses. Starting this month, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) will mail pre-filled applications to producers who have potentially eligible losses and: 

• Received crop insurance indemnities for qualifying 2020 and 2021 disaster events after May 2, 2022. 
• Received crop insurance indemnities associated with Nursery, Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO), Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX), Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO) and Margin Protection (MP) policies.  
• Certain 2020 prevent plant losses related to qualifying 2020 disaster events that had only been recorded in crop insurance records as related to 2019 adverse weather events and, as such, were not previously provided in applications sent earlier this year.

Producers are expected to receive assistance direct deposited into their bank account within three business days after they sign and return the pre-filled application to the FSA county office and the county office enters the application into the system. 

In addition, USDA published a technical correction to the Notice of Funds Availability for the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) and Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) to clarify how income from the sale of farm equipment and the provision of production inputs and services to farmers, ranchers, foresters, and farm operations are to be considered in the calculation of average adjusted gross farm income. Producers whose average adjusted gross farm income is at least 75% of the producer’s the average Adjusted Gross Income can gain access to a higher payment limitation.

In July, Senator Cramer joined Senators John Thune (R-SD), John Hoeven (R-ND), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Steve Daines (R-MT), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Tina Smith (D-MN) in urging USDA to account for 2020 losses being attributed to 2019, expedite ERP assistance to producers who purchased increased crop insurance coverage, and to ensure producers who made farm equipment sales are not wrongly excluded from increased payment levels due to adjusted gross income limits.

Source - https://www.cramer.senate.gov