The USDA is encouraging producers to prepare for hurricane season now.
"Hurricane season is here, beginning June 1 and running through Nov. 30. Farmers, ranchers and forest landowners have been significantly impacted by hurricanes in recent years. USDA encourages agricultural producers to prepare for the 2025 season and get familiar with recovery resources," a release states.
Here's their advice:
Get Prepared
· Develop an Emergency Plan: Make sure your employees and members of your household know your plan, including meeting points, emergency contact lists, and alternate evacuation routes in case of infrastructure damage.
· Remove Debris and Secure Large Objects: Most injuries to animals, people, or structures during a hurricane are caused by flying objects. To lessen the risk, minimize the presence of equipment, supplies, and debris that may become airborne during high winds or encountered in floodwaters. Clean out culverts, ditches, and other drainage areas, especially before and during peak hurricane season to reduce water damage.
· Document Inventory and Secure Important Records: It is critical to document inventory of farm buildings, vehicles, equipment, and livestock before a disaster occurs. Take photos, videos, or make written lists with descriptions. Gathering documentation before and after a storm is important for insurance compensation and recovery assistance. You’ll likely need thorough records of any damage and losses sustained on your farm as well as documentation of your cleanup and recovery efforts. Keep copies of these records in multiple places: a computer, off-site in a safe location, and on a cloud-based server.
· Know Your Insurance Options: Regularly review your insurance policies with your agent to be sure you have adequate coverage, including flood insurance, for your facilities, vehicles, farm buildings, equipment, crops and livestock. Note, there are limitations on how soon insurance coverage will take effect. Generally, insurance policies will not cover damage if the policy was not in place before a disaster.
· Gather Supplies: Have drinking water, canned food, a generator, batteries, a flashlight, and fuel available in case you lose power. Have cash on hand in cases of widespread outages, when credit and debit cards may not work.
· Access Real-time Emergency Information: Download the FEMA app for free on the App Store and Google Play for safety tips on what to do before, during, and after disasters.
The release states that the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and Risk Management Agency (RMA) offer a suite of disaster assistance programs to help you recover from the impacts of natural disasters.
Insurance and Risk Protection
If you have risk protection through Federal Crop Insurance, report crop damage to your crop insurance agent within 72 hours of discovering damage and be sure to follow up in writing within 15 days. For producers with coverage through the RMA’s Hurricane Insurance Protection – Wind Index (HIP-WI) and Tropical Storm Option (TS), payments are generally made within weeks following a hurricane or tropical storm. For more resources, including a recent webinar, visit the HIP-WI webpage. If you have coverage under the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP), you should report crop damage to your local FSA office and file a Notice of Loss (CCC-576) within 15 days of the loss becoming apparent, except for hand-harvested crops, which should be reported within 72 hours.
Disaster Assistance
FSA offers several disaster programs to help producers recover from crop, livestock and infrastructure losses, including low-interest emergency loans. A full list of programs is available on the Hurricane webpage. NRCS provides technical and financial assistance to producers through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program to help with immediate needs and long-term support to help recover from natural disasters and conserve environmental resources. The program can assist with restoring livestock infrastructure, emergency animal mortality disposal, and immediate soil erosion protection. Additionally, NRCS offers help to communities through its Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program which provides assistance to landowners and project sponsors following a natural disaster. EWP is designed to help people and conserve natural resources by relieving imminent hazards to life and property caused by floods, fires, windstorms, and other natural occurrences.
More Information Learn more at farmers.gov/hurricane.
The Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster Assistance at a Glance fact sheet, Farm Loan Assistance Tool can help you determine program or loan options. Additionally, the FarmRaise educational hub can also help with disaster recovery program decisions.
To report losses to FSA or ask questions about available programs, contact your local USDA Service Center; you can find the one closest to you using this map: https://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app
Here's a flyer with information from the USDA:
