SDRP stage 2 & FBA

Overview:

  • SDRP - Supplemental Disaster Relief Program

    • Stage 2 sign-up is now going on (just started Nov. 24th - the week of Thanksgiving)

    • SDRP is a $16B disaster aid package for weather related losses in 2023 & 2024

    • SDRP was passed & signed into law as part of the American Relief Act (ARA) on Dec. 21st, 2024

    • MORE info below

  • FBA - Farmer Bridge Assistance Program

    • This is the newest / most recent aid program announced by Trump for $12B

    • IF you already certified your 2025 acres at FSA earlier this year like normal before the July 15th deadline, then there is nothing you need to do at this time

    • We are waiting for estimated payment rates to be announced… they are expected to do so next week (right before Christmas)

      • One estimate is $48 /ac on corn and $32 /ac on beans… or an average of about $40 /ac.. but that is just an educated guess based off ECAP payment rates since the two programs appear to be somewhat similar

    • Payments are expected to be issued by February 28th, 2026

    • MORE info below

SDRP - key info:

  • You can now sign up for Stage 2

  • The deadline to sign up for both Stage 1 and/or Stage 2 is April 30th, 2026

  • Sign-up is done through your local FSA office.

  • Stage 1 vs Stage 2:

    • Stage 1 was for farms / crop insurance units where you triggered a MPCI loss in 2023 and/or 2024

    • Stage 2 is for farms / crop insurance units that did NOT trigger an MPCI loss in those same years (and therefore were not issued a payment under stage 1), but fell below their APH x the SDRP coverage level (92.5% if 75% MPCI, 95% if 80% MPCI or higher) 

  • If you haven’t done so already, contact your FSA office and ask them to generate your SDRP stage 2 app.

    • The app is prefilled with key info & numbers that are pulled from your crop insurance policy but there are a few boxes to fill out (boxes 15, 16 and 17) and then you have to sign and date (boxes 275A-C).

    • Box 15 - share percentage - most will write 100% next to their name or the name of their farming / insured entity

    • Box 16 - check ‘yes’ if you agree to purchase crop insurance for the next 2 years

    • Box 17 - disaster event - many will put drought.. some will put flooding, excessive moisture or excessive heat or whatever your qualifying cause of loss was

      • the qualifying causes of loss are listed on the SDRP fact sheet - link below

      • for drought, your county has to be listed as a county that qualifies for drought as the cause of loss - link below to that listing

  • The stage 2 application can be quite long (i.e. a lot of pages).

    • This is because it lists any and all farms / crop insurance units that did not trigger an MPCI / SDRP stage 1 loss payment…and it only fits about 2-3 farms / units per page and then has several sections at the end that do not apply to many, if not all, in our area.

    • Just because it lists a farm / crop insurance unit, that does NOT mean it will actually qualify for a payment under stage 2... (confusing, I know)

    • On a positive, the less money that is paid out to all under stage 2, the more of the $16B that will be remaining (currently about $5.8B has been paid out under stage 1) to pay out a final ‘top off’ payment.. that should come in May once the April 30th sign-up deadline has passed.

SDRP stage 2 factsheet
SDRP drought counties
SDRP website
SDRP payment dashboard

FBA - key info:

  • Like mentioned above:

    • IF you already certified your 2025 acres at FSA earlier this year like normal before the July 15th deadline, then there is nothing you need to do at this time

      • IF for some reason you did not certify all of your acres or do so accurately, you have only a couple of days to certify / correct your acres at FSA before the Dec. 19th deadline

    • We are waiting for estimated payment rates to be announced… they are expected to do so next week (right before Christmas)

      • One estimate is $48 /ac on corn and $32 /ac on beans… or an average of about $40 /ac.. but that is just an educated guess based off ECAP payment rates since the two programs appear to be somewhat similar

  • At this time, we are not sure if the payments will automatically be issued OR if you will have to sign an application. It seems like they are trying to streamline the FBA payment and keep it as simple as possible, so there is a chance no application / signature will be needed and payments will automatically be issued / direct deposited into your bank account.

  • Of the $12 billion provided, up to $11 billion will be used for the Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) Program, which provides broad relief to United States row crop farmers who produce Barley, Chickpeas, Corn, Cotton, Lentils, Oats, Peanuts, Peas, Rice, Sorghum, Soybeans, Wheat, Canola, Crambe, Flax, Mustard, Rapeseed, Safflower, Sesame, and Sunflower.

    • FBA will help address market disruptions, elevated input costs, persistent inflation, and market losses from foreign competitors engaging in unfair trade practices that impede exports.

    • The FBA Program applies simple, proportional support to producers using a uniform formula to cover a portion of modeled losses during the 2025 crop year.

    • This national loss average is based on FSA reported planted acres, Economic Research Service cost of production estimates, World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates yields and prices and economic modeling.

FBA announcement