USDA Offers Assistance to Drought-stricken California, Oregon Producers

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday announced it’s making $10 million in assistance available to farmers in the Klamath River Basin in Northern California and southern Oregon as drought conditions continue to limit water inflows into the agriculture-rich region. Producers will be eligible for federal payments based on drought-related losses in the 2018 and 2019 crop years in areas experiencing U.S. Drought Monitor D3, or “extreme,” drought conditions. Crop insurance coverage will factor into payment eligibility, as “states will need to limit payments to 90% of the drought losses if the producer had crop insurance or coverage under the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) or 70% if they did not have coverage or NAP coverage,” according to a USDA report. Eligible producers are also required to have crop insurance coverage in 2021 and 2022 if planting the same crops they did in the affected years. See more.