Signup is underway for the USDA’s Quality Loss Adjustment Program. The program assists producers who suffered eligible crop quality losses due to natural disasters in 2018 and 2019. Farm Service Agency Administrator Richard Fordyce says this was a challenging program to put together.
“It’s been a little bit of a challenge to get to the place that we are today, and how do you know what the universe is, how do you know what’s out there? And so, from that perspective, we reached out to a lot of different stakeholders for their input, and for that, we’re very appreciative, whether it was in the Upper Plains, in the Southeast, and a whole bunch of other places across the country with a lot of different crops.”
Fordyce talks about which crops are eligible for the program.
“Crops that will be eligible will be those for which federal crop insurance or NAP coverage is available. Also, crops that were sold or fed to livestock or in storage currently or were in storage may be eligible as well. A producer’s harvested eligible crop must have had at least a five percent loss reflected through a quality discount, or if it’s a forage crop, a nutrient loss to qualify, a five percent quality loss.”
Crop quality losses must have been a direct result of a qualifying disaster.
“Another thing that’s important and consistent with our other WHIP+ engagement is that losses must have been a result of a qualifying disaster event. And remember, those are from the WHIP+ legislation. These are some examples; hurricanes, excessive moisture, flood, a qualifying drought, tornado, typhoon, volcanic activity, snowstorm, or wildfire, or a related condition that took place in calendar years 2018 and 2019.”
For more information, visit farmers.gov/quality-loss, or contact your local USDA Service Center. Producers can also obtain one-on-one support with applications by calling 877-508-8364.
