Deadline: 6-Jul-22
The Department of Agriculture is pleased to launch the Agriculture Drought Relief Program (ADRoP).
The Agricultural Drought Relief Program (ADRoP) reimburses Minnesota livestock farmers and specialty crop producers for expenses related to the 2021 drought.
Funding Information
You may be eligible to receive up to $7,500 based on your actual drought related expenses.
Eligible Expenses
- Specialty Crop: water handling equipment such as water tanks, pipeline, water wagons/trailers; water hauling; wells (new, improvements, fixes, replacement pumps); irrigation equipment, including drip irrigation; soil moisture sensors; nozzles; replacement specialty crop seeds, seedlings, or started plants (including site prep, replanting, and technical assistance); extra straw/plastic tarps; additional hired labor; farmers’ market fees for canceled markets or farmers’ markets producers were unable to attend due to lack of product
- Livestock: water handling equipment such as water tanks, pipeline, water wagons/trailers; water hauling; wells (new, improvements, fixes, replacement pumps); irrigation equipment; nitrate testing; feed, feed transportation, custom baling, equipment rental; feed storage and hand-dling supplies such as silage tubes and TMR mixers; livestock transportation; livestock pond dredging; cover crop, pasture, or forage replanting (including seeds, site prep, and technical assistance); fencing supplies such as posts, wires, solar chargers; grazing rights; additional hired labor; herd reduction expenses Livestock farmers may receive up to $6/loaded mile (up to 25 miles per trip) for transporting feed to livestock. Livestock farmers may also receive $6/ loaded mile for transporting livestock to feed, wheat. You cannot claim mileage if the same miles are being covered through USDA’s Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees and Farm-raised Fish Program.
- Livestock farmers may also receive up to $6/loaded mile for bringing livestock to a point of sale if the livestock would not have been sold if there was not a drought.
- Livestock farmers and specialty crop producers may also receive up to $6/loaded mile for transporting water to livestock or water for irrigation of specialty crops.
- These funds may not be used as match for any other state grant programs.
Who may apply?
- Principal operators of livestock and specialty crop farms are eligible to apply. Only one application per farm will be accepted.
- A farm is any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the year. This definition includes nurseries, greenhouses, and certain non-profit organizations that operate farms.
- The principal operator is the person primarily responsible for the day-to-day operations of the farm.
- Livestock includes beef cattle, dairy cattle, swine, poultry, goats, mules, bison, sheep, horses, farmed Cervidae (deer), Ratitae (flightless birds including emu), and llamas.
- Specialty crop means an eligible crop under the USDA’s specialty crop block grant program.
- Farms must be located in whole or partially in a county designated by the USDA as a primary natural disaster area after July 19, 2021 and before January 1, 2022, or a county contiguous to a designated county. This includes all counties in Minnesota except Winona, Wabasha, Goodhue , and Rice.
For more information, visit https://www.mda.state.mn.us/droughtrelief