Feeling tight on bin space this harvest? Natural disasters, including tornadoes and derechos, struck down rural communities in recent years, leaving producers with fewer tools than they need to carryout operations.
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced on Tuesday that the department will offer $20 million to producers in Kentucky, Minnesota, South Dakota and surrounding areas to rebuild grain storage facilities affected by 2021 and 2022 natural disasters.
“Over the past two years, weather events in several states caused catastrophic losses to grain storage facilities on family farms as well as a large, commercial grain elevator,” Vilsack says. “USDA heard from congressional leaders, including Minority Leader McConnell, who identified a gap in our disaster assistance toolkit, and we went to work designing a new program to deliver direct assistance to producers who are struggling to meet their on-farm storage capacity needs in the wake of disasters.”
USDA’s Grain Storage Contribution
With funds made available through the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), the program will be primarily focused on supporting producers or groups of producers in their efforts to build new storage capacity in areas experiencing a shortage of bin space.
According to the announcement, USDA estimates the $20 million will cover 75% of “eligible expenses associated with building grain storage capacity or purchasing equipment.”
Funding eligibility maps have been released to show who qualifies:
While extensive funding details are yet to be released, farmers have another storage avenue to pursue now.
Farm Storage Facility Loan Program (FSFL)
The FSFL was put into motion in May 2000 with the goal of providing low-interest financing options to producers. Regardless of inflation, USDA has maintained its low-cost financing goal with current rates ranging from 2.875% (12-year loan) to 3.125% (3-year loan).
Facilities and equipment covered under the program include:
• Grain bins
• Hay barns
• Bulk tanks
• Cold storage
• Drying and handling storage
• Storage and handlings trucks
More than 33,000 loans have been issued through the program, which has increased U.S. producers’ storage capacity 900 million bushels.
Producers interested in the loan can apply through USDA. Other USDA disaster assistance can be found here.
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