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QLA and the second round of WHIP+ assistance will provide much-needed assistance to help producers offset significant financial loss.

Jacqui Fatka, Policy editor

June 14, 2021

4 Min Read
Corn plants lie on the ground following a derecho storm near Polo, Illinois, on Aug. 10, 2020. The storm brought wind gusts o
Corn plants lie on the ground following a derecho storm near Polo, Illinois, on Aug. 10, 2020. Daniel Acker/Stringer/Getty Images News

More than $1 billion in payments will be released over the next several weeks, starting June 15, for agricultural producers with approved applications for the Quality Loss Adjustment Program and for producers who have already received payments through the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus.

Producers who applied for QLA from January 6 to April 9, 2021 will receive 100% of the calculated assistance under QLA with payment disbursal beginning on June 15. As for WHIP+, producers who applied for and have received their first payment can expect to receive the second payment beginning in mid-June for eligible crop losses.

Due to budget constraints, producers received an initial WHIP+ payment for 2019 crop losses equal to 50% of the calculated payment. The second payment will be equal to 40% of the calculated payment for a total 90% WHIP+ program payment. USDA noted a third round of payments may be issued if sufficient funds become available.

“From massive floods to winter storms, and from extreme drought to excess moisture, natural disaster events in 2018 and 2019 were exceptionally catastrophic for agricultural producers nationwide - many suffered the impacts of multiple events in not just one but both years,” says FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux. “FSA staff worked tirelessly for many months to develop and implement comprehensive disaster programs that meet the varying and unique needs of a large cross-section of U.S. production agriculture. QLA and the second round of WHIP+ assistance will provide much-needed assistance to help producers offset significant financial loss.”

QLA payments

QLA provides assistance to crop and forage producers who suffered a quality loss due to qualifying natural disasters occurring in 2018 or 2019. FSA will begin issuing payments to producers on June 15. FSA accepted applications from Jan. 6 to April 9, 2021. Based on these QLA applications, producers will receive 100% of the calculated assistance under QLA.

For each crop year, 2018, 2019 and 2020, the maximum amount that a person or legal entity may receive, directly or indirectly, is $125,000. Payments made to a joint operation (including a general partnership or joint venture) will not exceed $125,000, multiplied by the number of persons and legal entities that comprise the ownership of the joint operation. A person or legal entity is ineligible for QLA payment if the person’s or legal entity’s average Adjusted Gross Income exceeds $900,000, unless at least 75% is derived from farming, ranching or forestry-related activities.

Second WHIP+ payments

WHIP+ provides payments to producers to offset production losses due to hurricanes, wildfires, and other qualifying natural disasters that occurred in 2018 and 2019. WHIP+ covered losses of crops, trees, bushes and vines that occurred as a result of those disaster events.

Producers who applied for and have received their first WHIP+ payment can expect to receive the second payment beginning in mid-June for eligible crop losses. Due to budget constraints, producers received an initial WHIP+ payment for 2019 crop losses equal to 50% of the calculated payment. This second payment will be equal to 40% of the calculated payment for a total 90% WHIP+ program payment. This second round of WHIP+ payments are expected to exceed $700 million. A third round of payments may be issued if sufficient funds become available. Producers with 2018 crop losses have already been compensated at 100%.

All producers receiving QLA Program and WHIP+ payments are required to purchase federal crop insurance or Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) coverage for the next two available crop years at the 60% coverage level or higher. If eligible, QLA participants may meet the insurance purchase requirement by purchasing Whole-Farm Revenue Protection coverage offered through USDA’s Risk Management Agency.

Derecho inclusion

Rep. Randy Feenstr, R-Iowa, introduced H.R. 3821, a bill to include losses due to high winds, such as derechos, in WHIP+.  

“I have continued fighting to secure relief for Iowa producers who suffered losses from last year’s devastating derecho, which only exacerbated the challenges producers were facing from pandemic-related disruptions. My commonsense proposal would help all those who suffered catastrophic damage from last summer’s derecho and are still working to claw their way back. Moving forward, I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get this legislation passed,” says Feenstra.

As a member of the House Committee on Agriculture, Feenstra led a similar effort in February -- successfully passing a derecho relief amendment to the American Rescue Plan out of the Ag Committee. However, due to the highly partisan nature of this reconciliation bill, Democrats ended up striking Feenstra’s proposal before making it to a vote on the House floor.

In April, Feenstra led a letter to House leaders requesting full funding for WHIP+ to help ag producers impacted by natural disasters, including high wind storms such as the derecho. 

About the Author(s)

Jacqui Fatka

Policy editor, Farm Futures

Jacqui Fatka grew up on a diversified livestock and grain farm in southwest Iowa and graduated from Iowa State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications, with a minor in agriculture education, in 2003. She’s been writing for agricultural audiences ever since. In college, she interned with Wallaces Farmer and cultivated her love of ag policy during an internship with the Iowa Pork Producers Association, working in Sen. Chuck Grassley’s Capitol Hill press office. In 2003, she started full time for Farm Progress companies’ state and regional publications as the e-content editor, and became Farm Futures’ policy editor in 2004. A few years later, she began covering grain and biofuels markets for the weekly newspaper Feedstuffs. As the current policy editor for Farm Progress, she covers the ongoing developments in ag policy, trade, regulations and court rulings. Fatka also serves as the interim executive secretary-treasurer for the North American Agricultural Journalists. She lives on a small acreage in central Ohio with her husband and three children.

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