01.05.21

Hoeven: USDA Finalizes Quality Loss Adjustment Program

As Chair of Agriculture Appropriations, Senator Secured Coverage for Quality Losses in FY20 Ag Approps Bill, Pressed FSA to Advance Program as Soon as Possible

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee and a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) released details for for the Quality Loss Adjustment (QLA) program. 

As chairman of Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, Hoeven worked to expand disaster assistance programs to cover quality losses and added eligible disaster events under the Wildfire, Hurricane and Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) for North Dakota farmers by including losses related to excess moisture and D3 drought. Since then, Hoeven has repeatedly urged USDA officials, including Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Under Secretary Bill Northey and FSA Administrator Richard Fordyce, to finalize the details and get the assistance out to producers. In December, the senator secured an additional $1.5 billion for WHIP+ and QLA in Fiscal Year 2021 to ensure program funding is sufficient to meet demand from producers who were impacted by natural disasters in 2018 and 2019.

“We worked hard to secure and advance this quality loss coverage to help make our producers whole following the extensive damage caused by natural disasters in 2018 and 2019,” said Hoeven. “We encourage all impacted producers to contact FSA, either through the available online resources or their local office, to determine eligibility and identify the necessary documentation.”

QLA will provide assistance to producers who suffered crop quality losses due to qualifying disaster events in 2018 and 2019. Covered disasters include hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, typhoons, volcanic activity, snowstorms, wildfires, drought and excessive moisture. Assistance will be based on a producer’s harvested affected production of an eligible crop that had at least a five percent quality loss due to all eligible disaster events. Payments will be calculated using formulas based on the type of crop and type of documentation submitted. 

  • Producer payments will equal 70% of their total dollar value loss on impacted production for non-forage crops with verifiable documentation of grading factors and the total dollar value loss due to quality.  
  • For non-forage crops without verifiable documentation of the total dollar value loss, but with verifiable documentation of grading factors, payments will equal total impacted production, multiplied by a county average loss per unit multiplied by 70% multiplied by 50%.

Signup for QLA runs from January 6 through March 5, 2021. Payments will be subject to payment limitations and adjusted gross income restrictions. Additional information on QLA is available from USDA at www.farmers.gov.

In addition to the disaster assistance, Hoeven secured $13 billion in resources for farmers and ranchers in the COVID-19 relief package recently passed by Congress. The senator also secured a full reimbursement for the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) in funding legislation passed by Congress earlier this year to support vital farm bill programs and ensure producers don’t face delays in receiving payments. 

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