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(Washington, D.C., May 7, 2025) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins today held the inaugural Farmers First roundtable at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Secretary Rollins hosted Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen, the Board of Directors for the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), and over 20 farmers and ranchers from 11 states who run smaller-scale, independent, family-owned operations. ]
Secretary Rollins will launch a plan later this month to ensure smaller-scale family-owned farming operations are economically viable and those who want to start and keep their own farms for generations to come are able to. The states are key stakeholders in supporting American agriculture and the group discussed ways USDA will work together with states and federal and private sector partners to put farmers first. Alongside NASDA President Wes Ward, Secretary Rollins today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to improve collaboration, coordination, and to ensure partnership with our friends in our agriculture community on the front lines.
This plan builds on the many ways USDA is putting farmers first and reprioritizing customer service. USDA’s Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) was the quickest, most effective rollout of emergency payments in the history of the program. To date, 487,177 farmers across 49 states have received over $7.3 billion in payments. To ensure total transparency, USDA updates the portal every Monday so the American people can track payment totals. President Trump and Secretary Rollins understand how important customer service is to the American people. That is why, in direct contrast to the Biden Administration, USDA stood up the ECAP program in 3 months as opposed to an average of 13 months, and in one case 19 months, it took to release ad hoc assistance programs under Secretary Vilsack. These unnecessary delays cause real harm on the farm.
A landing page to track the status of USDA’s disaster rollout, which will be updated regularly, has launched today.
Disaster Assistance Program Timeline
Emergency Livestock Relief Program – Drought/Wildfire
May 23 – Release to Federal Register for publication
May 28 – Final rule on public display
May 29 – Payment processing on Thursday night
May 30 – County offices sign and certify payments
Supplemental Disaster Relief Program – Previously Indemnified Loss
June 30 – Release to Federal Register for Publication
July 3 – Final rule on public display
July 7 – SDRP sign up begins
Emergency Livestock Relief Program – Flooding includes Commodity Loss Assistance Program, Milk Loss Program – Combined Final Rule
August 13 – Sent to Federal Register for Publication
August 15 – Final Rule on public display
August 18 – ELRP flooding, Commodity Loss Assistance and Milk Loss – sign up begins
Supplemental Disaster Relief Program – Uncovered Loss
September 10 – Sent to Federal Register for Publication
September 12 – Final Rule on public display
September 15 – SDRP sign up targeted.
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