New data from USDA’s Economic Research Service shows specialty crop growers in New York and North Carolina lead the nation in USDA’s Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program applications. Operated by the Farm Service Agency, the program covered about 115 million total acres in 2017.
Specialty crops, which include fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, and horticulture nursery crops, are often grown in areas where there are suitable soil and weather conditions. In 2020, North Carolina and New York had the program’s highest number of specialty crop applications. Each State had more than 5,000 applications.
Across the U.S., program applications were made for 147 different specialty crops in 2020. USDA operates various crop insurance and disaster aid programs to help producers. But when sufficient data is not available to create an actuarially sound insurance product, then producers can apply to the USDA, Farm Service Agency’s Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program.
