Congress recently passed an extension of the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) in the recent Continuing Resolution to fund the government. Farmers and ranchers who were hit by a natural disaster can get some much-needed assistance with this extension.
“Congress was able to pass, in the Continuing Resolution for government funding through Dec. 3, an extension of the WHIP+ program to include 2020 and 2021 crop years, with funding to the tune of 10 billion dollars,” Scott Bennett, director of Congressional Relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), said. “This money will be available for producers that had qualifying natural disasters destroy a portion or all of their crop.”
Several natural disasters are covered by the program.
The program provides payments to farmers to offset losses from drought, hurricanes, wildfires and other qualifying natural disasters. WHIP+ covers the losses of the crops, trees, bushes and vines that occurred as a result of those disaster events, milk losses due to adverse weather conditions and losses to on-farm stored commodities.
“Any producer that suffered damage from a qualifying disaster in 2020 and 2021, such as wildfires, hurricanes, derechos, drought or more, may qualify for a payment to recoup the lost value of those crops,” Bennett said in an AFBF Newsline report. “Please contact your local FSA office for more information on your qualification for this relief and how to apply if you do.”
Texas Farm Bureau worked with AFBF, other state Farm Bureaus and congressional leaders to extend WHIP+ to cover 2020 and 2021 crop years and make improvements to the program.
Bennett also noted another U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program is available to help farmers and ranchers offset costs associated with COVID-19 safety measures.
“The Pandemic Response and Safety Grant program assists small businesses in certain commodity areas, including specialty crop producers, meat and other processors and distributors, with the costs of preventing further spread of COVID-19, such as providing PPE, facilitating social distancing and retrofitting facilities,” he said. “This grant funding is intended to offset the costs of these COVID mitigation activities.”
Those interested in applying can find more information at ams.usda.gov/grants.