By Clint Thompson
Disaster relief assistance included in the American Relief Act, 2025, will not totally compensate for the losses specialty crop producers experienced this year related to hurricane damage. But the $21 billion set aside for farmers will help, especially those in the Southeast that suffered through Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton.
Bob Redding, who works for the Redding Firm and serves as a lobbyist for ag groups in Washington, D.C., discussed the federal assistance that was signed into law before the end of 2024.
“It’s critically important that growers know that this won’t make them whole. It doesn’t happen with any ad-hoc assistance program, but it will be beneficial to them,” Redding said.
Block Grant Funding
Block grant funding has been utilized in the past and will once again be advantageous for Southeast producers. It is a much faster system for the funds to be expedited to the growers.
“We have been strong proponents of that in the Southeast because it works. We saw after Hurricane Michael that block grants from the States Departments of Agriculture worked. Stakeholders can communicate with the States Departments of Agriculture better. We’re just very pleased with that,” Redding said. “One of the frustrations we had post-Michael, particularly with specialty crops, some of the staff, USDA, had not implemented a program for specialty crop at that level, particularly a block grant program. They did citrus in Florida the year before.
“A lot of people don’t understand that Vidalia onion seedbeds were wiped out. Those have a lot of value to onion growers. There was a lack of understanding that a pecan tree is 20 years old, and there’s a lot that growers will suffer when they lose a tree with future losses, future income. Those are the kinds of programs that the States Department of Agriculture can work with their stakeholders, these commodities and get something that’s more tailored for them.”