The Disaster Blog
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State-Based Financial Relief for Small and Medium-Scale Farms Impacted by Drought and Extreme Weather

CDFA’s California Underserved and Small Producers (CUSP) Program provides disaster relief funds for small and medium scale farms (grossing less than $400k/year) that experienced drought or other extreme weather from 2017 to the present. 

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Pallets in flooded field
Photo by Bernd 📷 Dittrich on Unsplash

Awards are reimbursement based. Applicants need to provide basic information; date and impact of weather event with any associated declarations; and receipts of expenses related to disaster. Receipts can include on-farm losses (e.g. plants, crops, or materials destroyed) or recovery costs (e.g. debris clean-up, pump repair, water testing). 

CDFA has also provided a example list of eligible drought and extreme weather losses. 

Additional questions about applications and eligible losses can be directed to awarding organizations.

If application support is needed – the UCANR Small Farms Network provides technical assistance in multiple languages.

Awards are capped at $20,000 per farmer per 12-month period no matter the number of disasters experienced. 

Deadline: Ongoing

Organizations currently accepting applications:

  • CCOF – Extreme Weather
  • IERCD – Extreme Weather
  • VRCD – Extreme Weather