Disaster Assistance/Crop Insurance
Overview
The federal government plays a significant role in assisting agricultural producers cope with financial losses caused by natural disasters. Three major ways this assistance is provided are through the federal crop insurance program, the Noninsured Disaster Assistance Program (NAP), and the Emergency Assistance Loan Program (EM). These programs are permanently authorized under federal law. The federal government also provides such assistance under disaster programs established under the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, commonly referred to as the 2008 Farm Bill. Read the full overview.
Note: Recently added resources are posted at the top of the applicable sections.
Major Statutes
Federal Crop Insurance Act (FCIA), 7 U.S.C. §§ 1501-1524
Supplemental Agricultural Disaster Assistance, 7 U.S.C. § 1531 (a)-(k)
Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), 9 U.S.C. § 1, et seq.
Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act (National Appeals Division), 7 U.S.C. §§ 6991-7002
Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP), 7 U.S.C. § 7333
Dairy Indemnity Payment Program, (DIPP) 7 U.S.C. §§ 4551 – 4553
Tree Assistance Program (TAP), 7 U.S.C. §§ 8201 – 8205
Agricultural Disaster Relief Trust Fund, 19 U.S.C. § 2497a
Price Loss Coverage (PLC) 7 U.S.C. § 9016
Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) 7 U.S.C. § 9017
Supplemental Agricultural Disaster Assistance 7 U.S.C. § 9081
Emergency Loans 7 U.S.C. §§ 1961 – 1971
Emergency Conservation Program (ECP), 16 U.S.C. §§ 2201 – 2202; 2204 – 2205
Emergency Watershed Program (EWP-Recovery), 16 U.S.C. § 2203
Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP) 16 U.S.C. § 2206
Regulations
Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, (2018 Farm Bill)
Agricultural Act of 2014, (2014 Farm Bill)
Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, (Proposed legislation, 2026 Farm Bill)
Removal of Regulatory Overreach and Federal Crop Insurance Policy Provisions, (2026)
Expanding Access to Risk Protection (EARP), (2025)
Enhancing Program Access and Delivery for Farm Loans, (2024)
Expanding Options for Specialty and Organic Growers, (2024)
Actual Production History (APH) and Other Crop Insurance Transparency, (2023)
Milk Loss Program and Emergency Relief Program, (2023)
Pandemic Assistance Programs and Agricultural Disaster Assistance Programs, (2023)
Transparency in Policy Cancellations, (2023)
Increasing Crop Insurance Flexibility for Sugar Beets, (2022)
Area Risk Protection Insurance Regulations and Common Crop Insurance Policy Basic Provisions, (2021)
Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program, (2020)
Supplemental Agricultural Disaster Assistance Programs, (2020)
Agricultural Disaster Indemnity Programs, (2019)
Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) Programs, (2019)
Emergency Conservation Program (ECP,) (2019)
Administration of Reinsured Crop Insurance Policies ,7 C.F.R. §§ 400.10– 400.17
Agriculture Loss Coverage (ARC)/ Price Loss Coverage (PLC), 7 C.F.R. §§ 1412.1– 1412.74
Crop Insurance Appeal Procedures , 7 C.F.R. §§ 400.90– 400.98
Dairy Indemnity Payment Program (DIPP), 7 C.F.R. §§ 760.1 – 760.33
Dairy Margin Coverage Program (DMC), 7 C.F.R. §§ 1430.400 – 1430.425
Disaster Set-Aside Program (DSA), 7 C.F.R. §§ 766.51 – 766.100
Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP), 7 C.F.R. §§ 1416.101– 1416.113
Emergency Conservation Program (ECP), 7 C.F.R. Part 701
Emergency Farm Loans, 7 C.F.R. §§ 764.351– 764.400
General Provisions for Supplemental Agricultural Disaster Assistance Programs, C.F.R. §§ 1416.1– 1416.14
Ineligibility for Programs Under the Federal Crop Insurance Act, C.F.R. §§ 400.675– 400.686
Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP), 7 C.F.R. §§ 1416.201– 1416.207
Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), 7 C.F.R. §§ 1416.301– 1416.306
National Appeals Division, 7 C.F.R. Part 11
Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP), 7 C.F.R. §§ 1437.1–1437.505
Freedom of Information— Availability for FCIC Records, 7 C.F.R. §§ 412.1 – 412.6
Supplemental Agricultural Disaster Assistance Program, 7 C.F.R. §§ 1416.1-1416.14
Tree Assistance Program (TAP), 7 C.F.R. §§ 1416.400– 1416.407
Agricultural Disaster Indemnity Programs 7 C.F.R. §§ 760.1500-760.1517
On-Farm Storage Loss Program 7 C.F.R. §§ 760.1600 – 760.1612
Milk Loss Program 7 C.F.R. §§ 760.1700 – 760.1720
Pandemic Assistance Programs, 7 C.F.R. Part 9
Quality Loss Adjustment Program 7 C.F.R. §§ 760.1800 – 760.1814
Federal Register Rules Open for Comment
Case Law
Case Law Index for Federal Crop Insurance Program
Administrative Law Decisions
Office of the Administrative Law Judges
Center published USDA Judicial Officer’s Decisions
Center Research Publications
Preparing for a Crop Insurance Audit (Hall, Zoller 2020)
USDA’s National Appeals Division Procedure and Practice (updated by Urbanek, 2019)
A Practitioner’s Guide to the Litigation of Federally Reinsured Crop Insurance Claims (Ballard, 2012)
Prevented Planting Crop Insurance: Overview, Drought, and Excessive Moisture (Ballard, 2012)
Crop Insurance Arbitration: What is Arbitration, When is it Required, and How Does it Work? (Ballard, 2012)
Crop Insurance for Edamame (R. Rumley, 2012)
The Federal Crop Insurance Program: Administration, Structure, and Operation (Ballard, 2012)
Filing a Crop Insurance Claim: An Overview for Producers (Ballard, 2012)
Scope of the Federal Crop Insurance Arbitration Clause (Fancher, 2002)
FCIC’s Standard Reinsurance Agreement (Fancher, 2002)
Dealing with the USDA: Federal Administrative Law Basics (Kelley, 2002)
Ag & Food Law Update blog topics:
Crop Insurance
Disaster Assistance Programs
Congressional Research Service Reports
Reports– published and made available by CRS beginning in 2018
Subjects- published by CRS and made available by NALC until 2018:
Disaster Impact and Assistance
Farm Bills/Economic Stimulus
Commodities
Agricultural Law Bibliography
Introduction | Keyword Search | Browse Categories
Legal publications on Crop Insurance & Disaster Assistance:
Administrative Law (Federal and State Farm Programs)
Finance and Credit
Domestic Farm Policy and Legislative Analysis
Taxation
Reference Resources
2018 Farm Bill (Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018)
2018 Farm Bill – Crop Insurance
2014 Farm Bill (Agricultural Act of 2014)
Farm & Commodity Policy
Risk Management – Government Programs & Risk
Potential Variability in Commodity Support: Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage Programs (Boussios and O’Donoghue, 2019)
Changing Farm Structure and the Distribution of Farm Payments and Federal Crop Insurance (White and Hoppe, 2012)
Identifying Overlap in the Farm Safety Net (O’Donoghue, et al. 2011)
Grassland to Cropland Conversion in the Northern Plains: The Role of Crop Insurance, Commodity, and Disaster Programs (Claassen et al. 2011)
Title I: Crop Commodity Program Provisions
Disaster Assistance Programs
Disaster Assistance Programs At a Glance Fact Sheet (2022)
Disaster Protection and Recovery Fact Sheets
Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool
Farm Loan Programs
Farm Bill Home
2018 Farm Bill What is New and What has Changed
FSA Handbooks for Disaster Assistance
Key Assistance Programs:
Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC)/ Price Loss Coverage (PLC)
CRP Emergency Haying and Grazing
Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC)
Disaster Set Aside (DSA)
Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish (ELAP)
Emergency Conservation Program (ECP)
Emergency Farm Loans
Emergency Grain Storage Facility Assistance Program
Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP)
Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP)
Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP)
Tree Assistance Program (TAP)
2024 Emergency Relief Program
2023/2024 Supplemental Disaster Assistance
Disaster Assistance and Emergency Relief for Individuals and Businesses
Crop Insurance and Crop Disaster Payments – Agriculture Tax Tips
Tax Law Provisions for Disaster Areas (Publication 976, 2018)
Agricultural Tax Center
Farmer’s Tax Guide (Publication 225, 2025)
Tax Relief in Disaster Situations
National Appeals Division Guidance, Regulations, and Statutes
Search NAD Determinations
NAD Hearing Guide (2008)
NAD Style Guide (2005)
NAD Correspondence Manual (2007)
A Beginner’s Guide to Crop Insurance
Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage Insurance Plan (PRF)
Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO)
Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO)
Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX)
Hurricane Insurance Protection – Wind Index (HIP-WI)
About the RMA
General Handbooks
Crop Policies
Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC)
Reinsurance Agreements
History of the Risk Management Agency
RMA News & Events
RMA Agent Locator
RMA Insurance Resources
RMA Insurance Plans
Crop Insurance Mediation
Veteran Farmer and Rancher Benefits for Crop Insurance
RMA Enterprise Units Fact Sheet (2023)
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Beginning Farmer and Rancher Benefits for Crop Insurance
Disaster Resource Center
Farmers’ Guide to 2018 USDA Farm Bill Programs
Farmers.gov
Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool
Protection and Recovery
Drought
Flood
Severe Storms
Wildfire
Winter Storms
United States Small Business Administration
Economic Injury Disaster Loans
Physical Damage Loans
Congressional Resources
Congressional Agriculture Committees
U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture
Government Accountability Office (GAO) (Search Page)
Congressional Research Service (CRS Reports) (Search Page)
Publications
Market Insurance and Risk Pooling in U.S. Crop Insurance (Agriculture Economics- The Journal of the International Association of Agriculture Economics— Fan, Liu, Ramset, Leatham; 2026).
Understanding the ECAP Application (Iowa State University— Tidgren; 2025)
Crop Insurance and the Farm Bill in a Nutshell (Farm Bill Law Enterprise— Hershey; 2024)
Crop Insurance 101: The Basics (American Farm Bureau Federation— Munch; 2024)
USDA Farm Service Agency Disaster Assistance (University of Florida—Olexa, Michael, Olevnik, Sean; 2024)
A Brief History of Crop Insurance (University of Wisconsin-Madison— Wantoch; 2023)
Current Crop Insurance Policies (Iowa State— Extension; 2021)
Crop Insurance Terms and Definitions (Texas A&M— Stokes, et.al.; 2021)
Insurance Options for Vegetable Growers (Michigan State University— Phillips; 2021)
Introduction to Crop Insurance for Field Crops (Michigan State University— LaPorte; 2021)
Risk Management and Crop Insurance (Virginia Cooperative Extension— Pierce, Timothy, Bovay, John; 2021)
Insuring a Future for Small Farms (Journal of Food Law and Policy— Miller; 2018)
Pasture, Rangeland, Forage Insurance Program (PRF) (Oklahoma State University— Campiche & Jones;2017)
A Primer on Crop Insurance (University of Maryland—Leathers, Goeringer; 2016)
Additional Resources
Agriculture- Disaster Education (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
Agricultural Disaster Resources Center (Ag America Lending)
Crop Insurance 101 (National Crop Insurance Services)
Crop Insurance Conference (North Dakota State University)
Crop Insurance – Tools and Calculators (University of Illinois)
Crop Insurance Decision Tool (University of Illinois)
Disaster Assistance and Crop Insurance (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
Disaster/Risk Management Publications Collection (Farmer’s Legal Action Group “FLAG”)
Farm Bill Law Enterprise (National Partnership of Farm Bill Research and Advocacy)
Farm Pulse: Crop Insurance and Grain Marketing Online Course (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
National Ag Risk Education Library (Center for Farm Financial Management)
USDA Announces Base Acre Increase Opportunity for Agriculture Risk and Price Loss Coverage Safety Net Programs (FSA; May 26, 2026)
New Breaking Relief for the 2025 Crop Year (RMA; May 14, 2025)
2023 RMA Manager’s Bulletin – Emergency Drought Relief (FCIC; August 17, 2023)
American Arbitration Association Rules