Florida farmers incurred crop and infrastructure losses from hurricanes in 2023 and 2024. Hurricane Idalia, Hurricane Debby, Hurricane Helene, and Hurricane Milton together caused between $676 million and $1.25 billion in lost agricultural production in Florida. Damage to on-farm infrastructure amounted to additional losses.
Also, over the past three years commodity crop prices have fallen relative to production costs. Estimated production costs now exceed average crop revenues for numerous commodity crops, which means that many crop producers are incurring economic losses.
Recent legislation provides financial assistance to cover a portion of disaster losses and support farms experiencing declines in net farm income. This article summarizes farm assistance programs contained in the America Relief Act, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and Florida Senate bills 480 and 700.
American Relief Act of 2025
The American Relief Act of 2025 was signed into law on December 21, 2024. It provides disaster assistance for crop years 2023 and 2024. Direct payments to eligible farmers are provided through the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP), Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP), and Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP). Additionally, State Block Grants will “provide compensation to producers for necessary expenses…including on-farm infrastructure…that a State determines warrants such relief” (Congress.gov 2024). USDA agreements with individual states, including Florida, are being negotiated currently (USDA-FSA 2025a).
The Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) provides one-time direct payments to agricultural producers of 20 eligible commodities for the 2024 crop year. The amount paid per crop acre is 26% of the estimated economic loss for each commodity, as calculated by USDA. Eligible commodities include peanut, corn, cotton, soybeans, peas, and other grains and oilseeds. Producers must submit a 2024 acreage report and ECAP application to their local USDA-Farm Service Agency (FSA) office by August 15, 2025 (Congress.gov 2024, USDA-FSA 2025b).
The Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP) provides payments to crop producers who suffered losses due to a qualifying disaster event in 2023 or 2024. Stage 1 will pay a portion of indemnified losses for producers enrolled in federal crop insurance or the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP). Stage 2 will provide options for uncovered losses. Producers who receive SDRP payments will be required to purchase qualifying crop insurance at 60% coverage or above in the next two crop years. Applications must be submitted to the FSA county office. Stage 1 signup began on July 10, 2025. Stage 2 enrollment is expected to begin mid-September (USDA-FSA 2025c).
The Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) provides payments to livestock producers who suffered losses from drought, wildfire, or flooding in 2023 or 2024. To be eligible, producers must be enrolled in the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) and have necessary forms on file with USDA-FSA. ELRP assistance for drought and wildfire began in May, and assistance for flooding is expected to begin in August (USDA-FSA 2025d).
One Big Beautiful Bill Act
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was a budget reconciliation bill signed into law on July 4, 2025. The bill contains numerous provisions related to agriculture (Arezzo 2025, Ayoub & Parum 2025, Munch & Ayoub 2025). A few components are summarized below.
Base acres for farm assistance programs, such as Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC), are extended until 2031. For 2025, enrolled farmers will receive the higher of the PLC or ARC payment, regardless of which program they had selected. The act allocates an additional 30 million base acres, starting in 2026. A farm is eligible to receive additional base acres according to their acreage planted to covered commodities in 2019 through 2023.
Reference prices for covered commodities increased starting in 2025. For example, the reference price for peanuts increased from $535 to $630 per ton, and the reference price for corn increased from $3.70 to $4.10 per bushel.
Marketing assistance loan rates for covered commodities will increase starting in 2026. For example, the loan rate for peanuts will increase from $355 to $390 per ton, and the loan rate for corn will increase from $2.20 to $2.42 per bushel.
Crop insurance premium subsidies increased up to 5 percentage points, depending on the coverage level. The maximum number of years of farming experience to qualify as a beginning farmer for additional premium assistance increased from 5 to 10 years. The act established a poultry insurance pilot program that will protect against increases in utility costs related to extreme weather events.
Additionally, the act increased limits on farm program payments, estate tax exemptions, Section 179 expensing, and bonus depreciation (Congress.gov 2025).
Florida Senate Bills 480 and 700
Florida Senate Bill No. 480 was signed into law in May 2025 and took effect on July 1, 2025. The bill authorizes a nonprofit agricultural organization to provide medical benefit plans to its members.
Florida Senate Bill No. 700, also called the Florida Farm Bill, was signed into law in May 2025. The bill updates the Agriculture and Aquaculture Producers Emergency Recovery Loan Program. It prohibits governmental entities from inhibiting the construction of housing for agricultural workers on ag-classified land, if the housing meets certain criteria. The bill includes several other provisions that indirectly affect agriculture.
References
Arrezo, D. 2025. One Big Beautiful Bill’s Impact on Northeast Agriculture: Agricultural Changes. https://www.farmcrediteast.com/en/resources/todays-harvest-Blog/250709OBBB_AgriculturalChanges.
Ayoub, S. and F. Parum. 2025, July 2. Senate Bill Includes $66 Billion for Farm Programs. https://www.fb.org/market-intel/one-big-beautiful-bill-senate-edition
Congress.gov. 2024. H.R. 10545 – American Relief Act, 2025. https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/10545
Congress.gov. 2025. H.R. 1 – One Big Beautiful Bill Act. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1.
Florida Senate. 2025a. CS/CS/SB 480: Nonprofit Agricultural Organization Medical Benefit Plans. https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2025/480.
Florida Senate. 2025b. CS/CS/CS/SB 700: Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2025/700.
Munch, D. and S. Ayoub. 2025. House Bill Adds $56.6B to Farm Programs. https://www.fb.org/market-intel/one-big-beautiful-bill-act-agricultural-provisions.
USDA, Farm Service Agency (USDA-FSA). 2025a. 2023/2024 Supplemental Disaster Assistance. https://www.fsa.usda.gov/resources/programs/20232024-supplemental-disaster-assistance.
USDA, Farm Service Agency (USDA-FSA). 2025b. Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP). https://www.fsa.usda.gov/resources/programs/emergency-commodity-assistance-program.
USDA, Farm Service Agency (USDA-FSA). 2025c. Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP). https://www.fsa.usda.gov/resources/programs/supplemental-disaster-relief-program-sdrp.
USDA, Farm Service Agency (USDA-FSA). 2025d. Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP). https://www.fsa.usda.gov/resources/programs/emergency-livestock-relief-program-elrp.
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