WASHINGTON — Ohio farmers enjoyed a significant increase in disaster recovery funding as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
SURE. The ARRA modified provisions of the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program (SURE) that was part of the 2008 farm bill. As a result, many farmers eligible for SURE received increased disaster recovery payments.
The farm bill’s SURE provisions provided Ohio with $4,860,719 for disaster recovery from 2008 crop losses. The Recovery Act added $2,051,356 more to the SURE funds, which enabled FSA to provide greater support to eligible farmers who suffered crop losses during the 2008 crop year.
Stimulate economy
That helped stimulate the state’s economy and gave those farmers added financial support for their recovering operations.
The added financial support happily surprised one farmer in Hardin County. His SURE payment increased by nearly 20 percent.
The drought in 2008 caused his crop yields to falter by half of what they normally run. The SURE program, especially with the supplement from ARRA, enabled him to mitigate his losses and reduce debt.
Disaster recovery
SURE was part of the 2008 farm bill. It enables the USDA’s Farm Service Agency to offer disaster recovery funding through a prescribed formula without the need for ad hoc legislation. SURE is a continual program to assist farmers when major disasters affect crop production or planting. It replaces the need for Congress to pass specific ad hoc legislation after major events severely affect farm operations.
Ohio was one of the states with a significant increase because of ARRA.
