DISASTER 

ASSISTANCE

USDA and SBA Could 

Do More to Help 

Aquaculture and 

Nursery Producers

Report to the Chair, Committee on 

Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 

U.S. Senate

September 2012

GAO-12-844

United States Government Accountability Office

GAO
United States Government Accountability Office

Highlights of GAO-12-844, a report to the 

Chair, Committee on Small Business and 

Entrepreneurship, U.S. Senate 

September 2012 

DISASTER ASSISTANCE

USDA and SBA Could Do More to Help Aquaculture 

and Nursery Producers

Why GAO Did This Study

Farmers and other agricultural 

producers are exposed to natural 

disasters, such as droughts, floods, 

hurricanes, and tornadoes. In the 

aftermath of such events, FSA and 

SBA disaster assistance programs can 

provide an important safety net for 

these producers. However, after past 

natural disasters, industry groups and 

others have raised concerns that some 

small agricultural producers—

particularly aquaculture (such as 

farmed fish and shellfish) and nursery 

(such as trees and plants) producers—

reported being ineligible to obtain this 

assistance.

GAO was asked to (1) examine FSA 

and SBA disaster assistance programs

and the coverage they provide to small 

producers; (2) identify the main factors, 

if any, that may limit small aquaculture 

and nursery producers’ participation in

these disaster assistance programs; 

and (3) examine FSA and SBA efforts 

to collaborate in providing such 

assistance to these producers. GAO 

reviewed the 10 FSA and SBA disaster 

assistance programs that become 

available following a natural disaster 

and that provide direct financial 

assistance or loans to these producers, 

interviewed agency officials and 

industry representatives, and reviewed

agency documents and regulations. 

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that USDA and 

SBA target outreach to small 

aquaculture and nursery producers, for 

example, by building on existing 

outreach, and develop a strategy to 

formally collaborate on disaster 

assistance for such producers. USDA 

and SBA generally concurred with 

GAO’s recommendations. 

What GAO Found

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) and 

the Small Business Administration (SBA) have 10 disaster assistance programs 

that small agricultural producers and businesses that support agriculture can use 

to recover from natural disasters. These programs serve largely different 

populations but leave few gaps in the disaster assistance available to most small 

agricultural producers. Aquaculture and nursery producers could be eligible for 

six of these programs, but their participation is limited by awareness and 

eligibility issues (see table). 

FSA and SBA Disaster Assistance Programs and Types of Losses Covered 

Program Crops Livestock Land Other

FSA Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program X a

FSA Tree Assistance Program X a b

FSA Livestock Indemnity Program X

FSA Livestock Forage Disaster Program Xc

FSA Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and 

Farm-raised Fish Program X a X d

FSA Emergency Conservation Programa X

FSA Emergency Forest Restoration Program X

FSA Emergency Loan Programa X

SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan Programa X 

SBA Business Physical Disaster Loan Program X

Sources: GAO review of federal disaster assistance program information provided by FSA and SBA. 

a

These programs are available to small aquaculture or nursery producers. b

FSA’s Tree Assistance Program does not cover crop production losses but provides partial cost 

reimbursement to replant or rehabilitate trees, bushes, and vines. 

c

This refers to the loss of grazing land for livestock. 

d

GAO identified three factors that may limit small aquaculture and nursery 

producers’ participation in the 6 disaster assistance programs for which they 

could be eligible. In particular, the producers are often not aware of the

programs, have other options for assistance, or do not qualify because they do 

not meet certain program requirements. Both FSA and SBA conduct outreach 

related to their disaster assistance programs, but neither agency has specifically 

targeted its efforts toward small aquaculture and nursery producers. As a result,

eligible producers are missing opportunities to obtain assistance that could help 

them maintain a viable business after experiencing a natural disaster.

For the purposes of this table, GAO defines crops to include honeybees and farm-raised fish. 

FSA and SBA engaged in some informal efforts to collaborate in providing 

disaster assistance to small aquaculture and nursery producers. However, the 

efforts were limited because FSA field staff know little about SBA’s disaster 

assistance programs, and SBA staff know little about the factors that affect 

whether an agricultural loan will be repaid. GAO has reported that agencies with 

complementary programs can enhance the value of these programs through 

interagency collaboration. Without more formal collaboration, small producers 

may not be consistently referred by one agency to the other, leading to fewer 

opportunities for these small producers to get assistance for which they 

otherwise might qualify. 

View GAO-12-844. For more information, 

contact Lisa Shames at (202) 512-3841 or 

shamesl@gao.gov and William B. Shear at 

(202) 512-8678 or shearw@gao.gov. 
Page i GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

Letter 1 

Background 4

Disaster Assistance Programs Leave Few Gaps in Coverage for 

Small Agricultural Producers 9

Awareness and Eligibility Issues Limit Small Aquaculture and 

Nursery Producers’ Participation in Disaster Assistance 

Programs 19

FSA and SBA Efforts to Collaborate on Disaster Assistance to 

Small Aquaculture and Nursery Producers Are Limited 26

Conclusions 29

Recommendations for Executive Action 30

Agency Comments 30

Appendix I Objectives, Scope, and Methodology 32

Appendix II Federal Disaster Assistance Programs 35

Appendix III GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments 38

Related GAO Products 39

Tables

Table 1: 10 FSA and SBA Disaster Assistance Programs and Types 

of Losses Covered 10

Table 2: FSA Cash Assistance Programs 11

Table 3: FSA and SBA Disaster Loan Programs 16

Table 4: Disaster Assistance Programs That Cover Aquaculture and 

Nursery Losses 19

Contents
Page ii GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

Abbreviations

ELAP Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees,

 and Farm-raised Fish Program

FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency

FSA Farm Service Agency

NAP Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program

RMA Risk Management Agency

SBA Small Business Administration

SURE Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments

 Program 

TAP Tree Assistance Program

the 2008 farm bill Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008

USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture

This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the 

United States. The published product may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety 

without further permission from GAO. However, because this work may contain 

copyrighted images or other material, permission from the copyright holder may be 

necessary if you wish to reproduce this material separately.
Page 1 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

United States Government Accountability Office 

Washington, DC 20548

September 11, 2012

The Honorable Mary L. Landrieu

Chair

Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

United States Senate

Dear Madam Chair:

Farmers and other agricultural producers are exposed to natural 

disasters, such as droughts, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Small 

agricultural producers, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 

describes as a diverse group that produces a range of food and fiber and 

that can include family farms, commodity producers, aquaculture (such as 

farmed fish and shellfish) producers, nursery producers (such as trees 

and plants), and other farmers and ranchers. These producers are 

particularly vulnerable to disasters because they tend to have less control 

over their economic security than larger producers, and natural disasters 

can exacerbate this economic insecurity. In the aftermath of such natural 

disasters, federal disaster assistance programs can provide an important 

safety net for these producers. However, after past natural disasters, 

some small agricultural producers, particularly aquaculture and nursery 

producers, reported challenges in obtaining this assistance. For example, 

following the Gulf Coast hurricanes in 2005 and 2006 and other natural 

disasters, some crawfish, oyster, and catfish producers whose operations 

were severely damaged reported that they did not have the safety net that 

they expected.

Both USDA, through its Farm Service Agency (FSA), and the Small 

Business Administration (SBA) are major sources of disaster assistance, 

but there is little overlap in the populations served by the FSA and SBA 

programs. Specifically, FSA provides financial assistance in the form of 

cash payments and reimbursements, as well as loans to help agricultural 

producers recover from damages sustained in natural disasters. It 

provides this assistance for producers who have sustained crop and 

livestock losses resulting from natural disasters through five supplemental 

disaster assistance programs authorized under Title XV of the 2008 farm 

 
 

Page 2 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

bill, as well as three other programs.1

In this context, you asked us to examine the disaster assistance 

programs available to small agricultural producers. In this report, our 

objectives were to (1) examine FSA and SBA disaster assistance 

programs and the coverage they provide small producers; (2) identify the 

main factors, if any, that may limit small aquaculture and nursery 

producers’ participation in disaster assistance programs from FSA and 

SBA; and (3) examine FSA and SBA efforts to collaborate in providing 

disaster assistance to small aquaculture and nursery producers.

These programs only cover losses 

incurred as a result of a disaster that occurred on or before September 

30, 2011, but payments are currently being made for disaster losses 

incurred from January 1, 2008, through September 30, 2011. A new farm 

bill was being debated as of August 2012, and the final bill may 

reauthorize some of these programs and may include retroactive 

assistance for damages resulting from natural disasters occurring after 

September 30, 2011. In addition, while SBA disaster loans primarily serve 

nonagricultural entities, SBA also has authority to and does provide loans 

to help some small agricultural producers and businesses that support 

agriculture recover from disasters. However, after past natural disasters, 

some stakeholders, including certain industry groups and others, raised 

concerns that some small agricultural producers, including aquaculture 

and nursery producers, have been found ineligible for both agencies’ 

disaster assistance programs. In addition, it is not clear whether FSA and 

SBA are collaborating effectively to ensure that these producers are 

served.

To address these objectives, we reviewed the 10 FSA and SBA disaster 

assistance programs we identified for agricultural producers and 

businesses that support agriculture that become available following a 

natural disaster and that provide direct financial assistance in cash 

payments, reimbursements, or loans to agricultural producers and 

businesses that support agriculture that have experienced natural 

disasters. We use the term “agricultural producers” to refer to family 

farms, commodity producers, aquaculture producers, nursery producers, 

and other farmers and ranchers. Businesses that support agriculture 

refers to businesses that provide support activities for agriculture that do 

 

1

Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-246, § 15101, 122 Stat. 

1651, 2246-2262.
 

Page 3 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

not lead to agricultural production. Examples of support activities include 

such duties as cotton ginning, soil preparation, planting, and breeding 

services for animals. Our primary focus was on small agricultural 

producers as described by USDA. We included family farms and other 

farmers and ranchers whose size makes them particularly vulnerable to 

natural disasters and in turn to economic insecurity.2 We used available 

FSA- or SBA-established agricultural producer size criteria for program 

eligibility in our review. To determine the types of small agricultural 

producers the 10 FSA and SBA programs cover, we reviewed agency 

documents, authorizing statutes, and implementing regulations to obtain 

information about each program, including eligibility requirements, and 

interviewed FSA and SBA officials. When analyzing whether any gaps in 

coverage exist, we analyzed major categories of agricultural producers 

involved in the production of food and fiber, including commodities such 

as wheat, feed grains, cotton, rice, oilseeds, and peanuts; specialty crops 

such as fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, and nursery crops including 

floriculture; livestock; and aquaculture. We believe that this analysis of 

major categories allowed us to reasonably identify where any gaps in 

coverage may be present. However, we recognize that we may not have 

detected additional gaps in coverage that may exist. We focused our 

second objective on the factors limiting small aquaculture and nursery 

producers’ participation in these disaster assistance programs because 

aquaculture and nursery producers are covered by at least one of the 

disaster assistance programs offered by both FSA and SBA. Other 

agricultural producers are not covered by the SBA programs. To identify 

any factors limiting small nursery and aquaculture producers’ participation 

in these disaster assistance programs, we reviewed the eligibility criteria 

for the programs that pertain to them and interviewed FSA and SBA 

officials. We assessed the agencies’ outreach policies and practices 

against our prior reports on reaching a program’s intended recipients.3

 

2

For individual borrowers, FSA’s definition of “family farm” specifies that the majority of 

day-to-day, operational decisions and all strategic management decisions be made by the 

borrower or a relative, and a substantial amount of labor to operate the farm be provided 

by the borrower or a relative. For corporations, partnerships, or other entities, the majority 

of day-to-day, operational decisions, and all strategic management decisions must be 

made, and a substantial amount of labor to operate the farm be provided by the members 

responsible for operating the farm.

3

GAO, Designing Evaluations: 2012 Revision, GAO-12-208G (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 31, 

2012) and GAO, Managing for Results: Views on Ensuring the Usefulness of Agency 

Performance Information to Congress, GAO/GGD-00-35 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 26, 

2000). 
 

Page 4 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

We also interviewed state-level FSA officials and industry representatives 

in seven selected states about the main factors that may limit participation 

in disaster assistance programs from FSA and SBA. We selected these 

states because the nursery and aquaculture industries have a significant 

presence in them. In selecting them, we also considered the geographic 

distribution of the states to ensure that a variety of places experiencing 

different types of natural disasters was included. Because we selected a 

nonprobability sample of states, the information we collected from them 

cannot be generalized to all states; however, the information provides 

useful examples of the factors that may limit participation in disaster 

assistance programs from FSA and SBA in those states. The states we 

selected were California, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, North 

Carolina, and Washington. To determine how FSA and SBA collaborate 

to provide disaster assistance to small nursery and aquaculture 

producers, we reviewed FSA and SBA documents and interviewed 

national- and state-level agency officials to obtain information about the 

agencies’ policies and practices for collaborating on disaster assistance. 

We also examined the degree to which the agencies’ collaborative efforts 

reflected key practices we previously identified that can help enhance and 

sustain collaboration among federal agencies.4

We conducted this performance audit from September 2011 to 

September 2012 in accordance with generally accepted government 

auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the 

audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable 

basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We 

believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our 

findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.

Appendix I provides more 

information on our objectives, scope, and methodology.

Natural disasters, such as droughts, floods, hurricanes, and other 

adverse weather events, pose risks to agricultural producers. The federal 

government has played an active role in mitigating those risks through a 

variety of disaster assistance programs. USDA provides a basic safety 

net of permanently authorized and regularly funded programs to help 

agricultural producers recover financially from losses resulting from 

 

4

GAO, Results-Oriented Government: Practices That Can Help Enhance and Sustain 

Collaboration among Federal Agencies, GAO-06-15 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 21, 2005).

Background
 

Page 5 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

natural disasters. Congress has historically supplemented these ongoing 

programs in an ad hoc manner by providing one-time payments through 

disaster assistance programs that compensate producers for disasterrelated crop and livestock losses they sustained. The aquaculture and 

nursery industries are two growing agricultural industries covered by 

federal disaster assistance.

The Federal Crop Insurance Program and the Noninsured Crop Disaster

Assistance Program (NAP) offer agricultural producers protection against 

crop losses if they enroll in the programs prior to experiencing a loss.5

Disaster declarations are required to trigger some federal disaster 

assistance programs. For agricultural disaster assistance programs, 

disaster declarations can be made by the President, the Secretary of 

Federal crop insurance, administered by USDA’s Risk Management 

Agency (RMA), protects participating farmers against financial losses 

because of production risks—droughts, floods, and other natural 

disasters—as well as other risks. Under the Federal Crop Insurance 

Program, farmers can choose various levels and types of insurance 

protection: they can insure against losses caused by poor crop yields, 

declines in crop prices, or both, for each insurable crop they produce. 

These crops include major crops—such as corn, cotton, soybeans, and 

wheat, which accounted for three-quarters of the acres enrolled in the 

program in 2011—as well as nursery crops and certain fruits and 

vegetables. RMA is also conducting pilot aquaculture crop insurance 

projects for clams and oysters. For crops for which federal crop insurance 

is not available, farmers can obtain coverage through FSA’s NAP, which 

provides cash payments to producers when natural disasters are 

responsible for low crop yields or loss of value or prevent planting from 

occurring. NAP is limited by statute to include crops for which the 

catastrophic risk protection level of crop insurance is not available and 

that are grown for food and fiber, and other crops such as floriculture, 

ornamental nursery, Christmas tree crops, turfgrass sod, and 

aquaculture.

 

5

We previously reported on the costs of the federal crop insurance program. See GAO, 

Crop Insurance: Savings Would Result from Program Changes and Greater Use of Data 

Mining, GAO-12-256 (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 13, 2012).

Federal Crop Insurance 

and Noninsured Crop 

Disaster Assistance 

Programs Provide a Basic 

Safety Net for Agricultural 

Producers
 

Page 6 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

Agriculture, or the SBA Administrator.6 The Robert T. Stafford Disaster 

Relief and Emergency Assistance Act authorizes the President to issue 

major disaster or emergency declarations in response to catastrophes in 

the United States that overwhelm state and local governments. Such 

declarations result in the distribution of a wide range of federal aid to 

individuals and families, certain nonprofit organizations, and public 

agencies (see app. II). The Federal Emergency Management Agency 

(FEMA), in the Department of Homeland Security, is responsible for 

coordinating federal response and recovery efforts under presidential 

disaster declarations. FEMA works with other federal, state, and local 

agencies to assist individuals after major disasters, and volunteer 

organizations, such as the American Red Cross, also participate in these 

efforts.7 Following a presidential disaster declaration, FEMA will open 

disaster recovery centers where individuals can meet with representatives 

from federal agencies, including FSA and SBA; obtain information about 

the recovery process; and register for federal disaster assistance.

In addition to crop insurance and NAP, which are purchased before a 

disaster, FSA provides eight disaster assistance programs that become 

available to producers after a natural disaster. Title XV of the Food, 

Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (the 2008 farm bill) established five 

disaster assistance programs that provide assistance to agricultural 

producers who suffer crop and livestock losses incurred as a result of a 

disaster, adverse weather, or other environmental condition that occurred 

on or before September 30, 2011.8

 

6

The President can issue a major disaster or emergency declaration in response to a 

catastrophe that overwhelms state and local governments. The Secretary of Agriculture 

can make a determination that there has been a natural disaster. The SBA Administrator 

can declare a disaster because of various physical damages or economic injuries.

Agricultural producers may apply for 

this assistance following a natural disaster. USDA’s FSA administers 

these programs and funds them through the Agricultural Disaster Relief 

7

Presidentially declared disasters require that FEMA have overall responsibility for 

coordinating federal assistance, but there are several other types of disaster declarations, 

such as those made by the Secretary of Agriculture or SBA, that do not involve FEMA. 

Such declarations instead make various disaster assistance from SBA, FSA, and other 

state and local authorities available to producers.

8

We evaluated past ad hoc disaster assistance programs to inform FSA’s implementation 

of the 2008 farm bill disaster assistance programs. See GAO, USDA Crop Disaster 

Programs: Lessons Learned Can Improve Implementation of New Crop Assistance 

Program, GAO-10-548 (Washington, D.C.: June 4, 2010). 

Federal Disaster 

Assistance Programs That 

Become Available to 

Agricultural Producers and 

Businesses That Support 

Agriculture Following a 

Natural Disaster
 

Page 7 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

Trust Fund providing approximately $3.6 billion in assistance through the 

end of calendar year 2011 to agricultural producers of all sizes.9

The five programs are the following:

• The Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program (SURE) 

provides cash assistance for agricultural producers with crop 

production losses or crop quality losses.

• The Tree Assistance Program (TAP) provides partial cost 

reimbursements to orchard and nursery producers for replanting or 

rehabilitating lost or damaged trees, bushes, or vines.

• The Livestock Indemnity Program provides cash assistance to 

producers for livestock deaths.

• The Livestock Forage Disaster Program provides cash assistance to 

livestock producers when their livestock are prevented from grazing 

due to drought or fire on federally managed land.

• The Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farmraised Fish Program (ELAP) provides cash assistance to eligible 

producers who have losses that are not covered under the other 2008 

farm bill programs due to adverse weather and disease, among other 

things.

FSA also administers three other disaster assistance programs that 

producers can apply for following a disaster. These programs are 

generally funded through annual appropriations and are as follows:

• The Emergency Forest Restoration Program, which also was created 

in the 2008 farm bill, provides payments to eligible owners of 

nonindustrial private forestland to carry out emergency measures to 

restore land damaged by a natural disaster. This program was 

implemented in 2010 to cover disasters starting in January 2010. It 

has provided $2 million from fiscal years 2010 through 2011.

• The Emergency Conservation Program provides funding and 

technical assistance for farmers and ranchers who carry out 

emergency measures to rehabilitate farmland damaged by natural 

disasters and for carrying out emergency water conservation 

measures in periods of severe drought. This program provided $345 

million from fiscal years 2008 through 2011.

 

9

Funds are appropriated to the Agricultural Disaster Relief Trust Fund from the general 

fund of the Treasury based on agricultural trade duties. 
 

Page 8 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

• The Emergency Loan Program helps agricultural producers recover 

from production and physical losses. Unlike FSA’s other disaster 

assistance programs, the Emergency Loan Program is available only 

to small agricultural producers, which USDA classifies as family-sized 

farms. FSA obligated $32 million for the Emergency Loan Program in 

fiscal year 2011.

By law, SBA is prohibited from providing disaster loans to most 

agricultural producers. However, SBA has two loan programs that are 

relevant to agriculture and provided 103 loans totaling about $15 million in 

disaster loans to eligible small aquaculture producers, nursery producers 

affected by drought, and businesses that support agriculture that reported 

losses to SBA from October 2007 through the end of 2011.10

• The Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program provides working capital 

loans for disaster-related needs to meet financial obligations that 

could have been met had the disaster not occurred. Small businesses 

or private nonprofit organizations are eligible for these loans if they 

have suffered substantial economic injury—i.e., the business cannot 

meet its obligations or pay necessary operating expenses—as a direct 

result of a declared disaster. Aquaculture producers and nursery 

producers affected by drought may qualify for these loans.

The two 

programs are the following:

• The Business Physical Disaster Loan Program provides loans for a 

business to repair, rehabilitate, or replace damaged property, 

including real estate, equipment, inventory, and fixtures. Any 

business, other than an agricultural enterprise, or private, nonprofit 

organization (large or small) located in a declared disaster area that 

has incurred damage during the disaster may apply for these loans, 

including businesses that support agriculture.

The 10 USDA and SBA disaster assistance programs have slightly 

different definitions for aquaculture. USDA defines aquaculture as the 

production and rearing of aquatic species under controlled or selected 

environments. SBA uses a definition from the U.S. Department of 

Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which 

defines aquaculture as the propagation and rearing of aquatic organisms 

in controlled or selected aquatic environments for any commercial, 

 

10SBA provided another 199 loans totaling $7.7 billion to nonfarm fishing, hunting and 

trapping businesses over that same time period.

Characteristics of 

Aquaculture and Nursery 

Industries
 

Page 9 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

recreational or public purpose. A 2012 Congressional Research Service 

report stated that, until recently and with a few exceptions, U.S. 

aquaculture has been considered a minor industry.11

Nursery producers grow a variety of trees and plants, such as oak trees, 

shrubs, and potted plants, with some producers growing hundreds of 

varieties. USDA has reported that, since the 1970s, the greenhouse and 

nursery industry had been growing more rapidly than all other agricultural 

commodities, in terms of cash receipts. Cash receipts for the top five 

greenhouse and nursery producing states were nearly $10 billion in 2006.

USDA’s 2005 

Census of Aquaculture reported that U.S. sales of aquaculture products 

were approximately $1.1 billion. Aquaculture crops include fish for human 

consumption, such as catfish, salmon, and trout; crustaceans such as 

crawfish; mollusks such as oysters and clams; and ornamental fish and 

baitfish. Fish for human consumption and baitfish are normally grown in 

freshwater. Crawfish are grown in freshwater, and farm-raised oysters 

and clams are grown in coastal areas of the United States.

The 10 FSA and SBA disaster assistance programs we identified that 

small agricultural producers and businesses that support agriculture can 

use to recover from natural disasters provide assistance that can cover 

most losses. FSA provides cash assistance to agricultural producers, 

including small producers, for crop and livestock losses and damages to 

land. FSA also provides disaster loans to these producers to cover 

production losses, while SBA provides disaster loans to cover physical 

damages and economic injury losses to businesses that support 

agriculture and economic injury to a limited aquaculture sector and for 

nurseries only when a drought is declared. Together, the FSA and SBA 

disaster assistance programs are fragmented, but they leave few gaps in 

the assistance available to most small agricultural producers in the wake 

of a natural disaster.12

 

11Congressional Research Service, Fishery, Aquaculture, and Marine Mammal Issues in 

the 112th Congress (Washington, D.C.: May 9, 2012).

Table 1 lists the 10 cash assistance and loan 

programs we identified and the types of losses they cover.

12Fragmentation refers to those circumstances in which more than one federal agency (or 

more than one organization within an agency) is involved in the same broad area of 

national interest. For more information, see GAO, 2012 Annual Report: Opportunities to 

Reduce Duplication, Overlap and Fragmentation, Achieve Savings, and Enhance 

Revenue. GAO-12-342SP (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 28, 2012).

Disaster Assistance 

Programs Leave Few 

Gaps in Coverage for 

Small Agricultural 

Producers 
 

Page 10 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

Table 1: 10 FSA and SBA Disaster Assistance Programs and Types of Losses Covered

Program Crops Livestock Land Other

FSA Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program (SURE) X 

FSA Tree Assistance Program (TAP) Xa

FSA Livestock Indemnity Program X 

FSA Livestock Forage Disaster Program Xb

FSA Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-raised Fish Program 

(ELAP) 

X X c

FSA Emergency Forest Restoration Program X 

FSA Emergency Conservation Program X 

FSA Emergency Loan Program X 

SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program X 

SBA Business Physical Disaster Loan Program X 

Sources: GAO review of federal disaster assistance program information provided by FSA and SBA.

a

FSA’s Tree Assistance Program does not cover crop production losses but provides partial cost 

reimbursements to replant or rehabilitate trees, bushes, and vines. 

b

This refers to the loss of grazing land for livestock. 

c

For the purposes of this table, we define crops to include honeybees and farm-raised fish. 

Agricultural producers, including small producers, such as family farms, 

can apply for cash assistance under seven FSA programs that provide 

cash payments and reimbursements for losses resulting from natural 

disasters to a wide variety of crops and livestock, as well as damages to 

farmland and forests (table 2). Qualifying natural disasters generally 

include adverse weather events such as droughts, floods, hurricanes, and 

blizzards; however, each program specifies the types of disasters that it 

covers. Five of the seven programs—(1) SURE, (2) TAP, (3) the 

Livestock Indemnity Program, (4) the Livestock Forage Disaster Program, 

and (5) ELAP—were authorized by Title XV of the 2008 farm bill and 

cover losses and damages resulting from natural disasters that occurred 

from January 1, 2008, through September 30, 2011.13

 

13The SURE program covers losses beginning with the 2008 crop year. A crop year is 

determined by USDA based on when the crop is normally harvested.

They have several 

common eligibility requirements. For example, producers must have 

purchased crop insurance or enrolled in NAP prior to incurring damages 

or, for crop years 2008 and 2009, must obtain a waiver from those 

requirements from USDA to receive benefits under SURE, ELAP, and 

TAP. However, limited resource (i.e., having limited gross farm sales or 

FSA Provides Cash 

Assistance for Crop and 

Livestock Losses and 

Damages to Land
 

Page 11 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

household income), socially disadvantaged (i.e., belonging to a racial or 

ethnic group subject to racial or ethnic prejudice), and beginning farmers 

and ranchers (i.e., not having operated a farm or ranch for more than 10 

consecutive years) may be exempted from this requirement. The other 

two programs—the Emergency Forest Restoration Program and the 

Emergency Conservation Program—are authorized in separate legislation 

and cover losses on an ongoing basis from funds generally made 

available through the appropriations process.

Table 2: FSA Cash Assistance Programs 

Program Description Covered losses

SUREa Cash payments for agricultural producers 

with qualifying crop production losses or 

crop quality losses.

 Crops and some 

aquaculture 

TAPa Partial reimbursement for qualifying 

orchardists and nursery producers to replant 

or rehabilitate eligible trees, bushes, and 

vines.

 Orchards and 

nurseries

Livestock Indemnity 

Programa Cash assistance for livestock deaths in excess of normal mortality due to adverse 

weather.

 

Livestock, 

including some 

aquaculture, and 

honeybees Livestock Forage 

Disaster Programa Cash assistance for livestock grazing losses caused by qualifying drought conditions or a 

fire on federal land used for grazing.

 

ELAPa Cash assistance for livestock feed and 

grazing losses and deaths; honeybee 

colony, hive and feed losses; and farmraised fish deaths and feed losses that are 

not covered by other farm bill disaster 

assistance programs.

 

Emergency Forest 

Restoration Program 

Partial reimbursement for owners of 

nonindustrial private forest land in order to 

carry out emergency measures to restore 

damaged land.

Land

Emergency 

Conservation Program 

Partial reimbursement for agricultural 

producers to rehabilitate farmland that has 

been severely damaged.

Sources: GAO review of federal disaster assistance program information provided by FSA.

a

These programs, authorized under the 2008 farm bill, cover only losses incurred as a result of 

disasters that occurred on or before September 30, 2011. Payments are currently being made for 

disaster losses that occurred from January 1, 2008, through September 30, 2011. 
 

Page 12 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

Two programs cover crop losses:

• SURE covers crops for which federal crop insurance or NAP is 

available, including corn and other commodities, fresh produce, 

organic crops, apples and other fruit, and nursery products. Losses to 

catfish, crawfish, and other aquaculture species are also covered 

under SURE; however, livestock losses are not covered. Agricultural 

producers who have suffered a 10 percent crop loss on at least one 

crop of economic significance on their farm are eligible if they are 

located in a declared disaster county or a county adjacent to a 

disaster county.14

• TAP is a cost-reimbursement program that provides cost-share 

payments to orchard and nursery producers for replanting or 

rehabilitating lost or damaged trees, bushes, or vines for commercial 

purposes. Nursery trees that are produced for commercial sale, 

including ornamental trees, fruit and nut trees, and Christmas trees, 

are also covered. Trees used for pulp or timber are not covered. To 

receive benefits, a producer must have sustained a loss in excess of 

15 percent of the trees, bushes, or vines in an individual stand—a 

contiguous acreage of the same type of plant—after adjusting for 

normal mortality or damage. TAP reimburses producers for 70 percent 

of the cost of replanting trees, bushes, and vines, and 50 percent of 

the costs to remove, prune, or other costs to salvage damaged trees, 

bushes, and vines, or to prepare the land to plant new ones. 

In addition, producers who have lost 50 percent or 

more of the normal production on their farms from a natural disaster 

may also qualify for SURE, even if they are not located in a declared 

disaster county or contiguous county. Reductions in crop quantity and 

quality due to natural disasters are counted as losses and, in some 

cases, losses that occur because a natural disaster prevented a 

producer from planting a crop are also counted. The amount of the 

SURE payment is a percentage of the difference between the SURE 

guarantee and the total farm revenue for the producer’s entire farm, 

not the value of lost crops. The SURE guarantee is calculated based 

on the level of crop insurance or NAP coverage the producer has and 

historic production or value of lost crops. In general, the more 

insurance purchased, the higher the SURE payment.

 

14Crop of economic significance means any crop that contributed, or is expected to 

contribute, 5 percent or more of the total expected value of all crops grown by the 

producer.

Crop Losses
 

Page 13 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

The following three programs cover livestock and livestock-related losses:

• The Livestock Indemnity Program provides cash assistance to 

livestock producers for the deaths of a wide variety of livestock that 

are produced or maintained for commercial use, ranging from cattle, 

poultry, and swine to alpacas and reindeer, among others. Producers 

who raise poultry and swine under contracts can also receive 

assistance. Deaths must be in excess of normal mortality for the 

animal and have been caused by adverse weather, including extreme 

heat or cold and other weather events. Deaths resulting from drought 

are not covered.15

• The Livestock Forage Disaster Program provides cash assistance to 

livestock producers when their livestock are prevented from grazing 

because the land or pasture they normally graze on has been affected 

by a drought. To be eligible, producers’ land must be physically 

located in a county affected by a qualifying drought during the normal 

grazing period, as determined by the U.S. Drought Monitor, a joint 

federal-academic system for classifying drought severity according to 

a range of abnormally dry to exceptional drought, produced on a 

weekly basis. Payment for drought-related grazing losses is based on 

the severity of the drought and the cost of feed. In addition, the 

Livestock Forage Disaster Program provides cash assistance to 

producers who have been prevented from grazing on federally 

managed rangeland because of fire when they normally would have 

been permitted to. Payment for fire-related grazing losses is 

calculated by multiplying 50 percent of the monthly feed cost by the 

number of days the producer is prohibited from grazing, for up to 180 

days.

Producers are paid 75 percent of the fair market 

value of the livestock. The Livestock Indemnity Program does not 

cover aquaculture.

• ELAP provides cash assistance to eligible producers who have losses 

from disease, adverse weather, or other conditions that are not 

covered under SURE, the Livestock Indemnity Program, or the 

Livestock Forage Disaster Program. FSA officials told us it is a

catchall program meant to fill gaps left by the other programs. For 

example, ELAP has covered livestock losses from wolf attacks. 

According to the officials, livestock being killed by gray wolves that 

 

15Because feed can be purchased or otherwise obtained in the event of a drought, 

drought is not an eligible adverse weather event except when anthrax, resulting from 

drought, causes the death of eligible livestock. 

Livestock and LivestockRelated Losses 
 

Page 14 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

were recently reintroduced into the western United States is fairly 

common, and producers cannot hunt the wolves because they are a 

protected species. In addition, honeybee producers are eligible for 

ELAP if they have colony or hive losses from adverse weather or 

other eligible loss conditions, including colony collapse disorder, an 

unexplained phenomenon in which, other than a live queen, there are 

no other or a low number of adult honeybees present in a hive. ELAP 

also covers farm-raised fish feed losses and death losses of eligible 

farm-raised game or sport fish for aquaculture producers and livestock 

feed and grazing losses that result from natural disasters other than 

drought or fires on federally managed lands. Depending on the type of 

loss, payment amounts are calculated based on 75, 60, or 50 percent 

of the value of the loss. However, the farm bill limits the amount of 

assistance that can be approved each year under the program to 

$50,000,000. FSA may prorate payment amounts to reduce the total 

expected paid out.

Two programs cover damages and losses to land. FSA has set a national 

minimum qualifying restoration cost of $1,000 for these programs, 

although FSA state-level offices are authorized to set a higher minimum. 

However, according to FSA officials, the national qualifying minimum cost 

of restoration for Emergency Conservation Program participants who 

claim limited resource status is $250. These two programs are as follows:

• The Emergency Forest Restoration Program is a cost-reimbursement 

program that provides payments to owners of nonindustrial private 

forestland that has been damaged by a natural disaster. The land 

must have, or had, tree cover immediately before the natural disaster 

and the damages, if not addressed, must be expected to impair or 

endanger the natural resources on the land and materially affect its 

future use. The program is not limited to agricultural producers, but 

FSA officials told us that many of them participate in it. For example, 

producers have used it to remove farm equipment and debris that a 

natural disaster blew off their farmland into their adjacent forestland. 

The Emergency Forest Restoration Program covers up to 75 percent 

of the qualifying cost to implement FSA-approved practices to repair 

damage to natural resources and restore forest health and forestrelated resources on the land.

• The Emergency Conservation Program generally reimburses 

agricultural producers for up to 75 percent of the cost to rehabilitate 

farmland that has been severely damaged by a natural disaster. 

Qualified limited resource producers may receive up to 90 percent. 

Land must be expected to have annual agricultural production, be 

Damages to Land 
 

Page 15 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

used as a windbreak or shelterbelt, or a farm access road. This 

includes grazing land for commercial livestock production, land used 

for producing agricultural commodities, and privately owned land used 

for commercial aquaculture; however, certain types of land, including 

state-owned coastal waters that aquaculture producers lease, do not 

qualify. The Emergency Conservation Program also covers 

commercial orchards, land used for container-grown nursery stock, 

and Christmas tree farms but does not cover land used for timber 

production. Land that is subject to frequent damage or susceptible to 

severe damage is also excluded.

FSA provides disaster loans to small agricultural producers that have 

experienced production losses or physical losses, while SBA provides 

loans for small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, and private 

nonprofit organizations that have suffered substantial economic injury 

(table 3). Officials from both agencies told us that agricultural producers 

generally apply for disaster loans only when crop insurance or cash 

assistance is insufficient or unavailable to cover their losses because, 

unlike a loan, these other sources of disaster assistance do not have to 

be repaid. Nonetheless, officials said that the loans are an important 

source of assistance for those producers who need them. As of July 11, 

2012, USDA announced that the interest rate for FSA’s Emergency Loan, 

which is set by the Secretary of Agriculture, would decrease from 3.75 

percent to 2.25 percent, which the agency says will make the rates more 

comparable to other rates in the market. Interest rates for SBA’s loans are 

set when the disaster declaration is made but are capped at 4 percent 

unless SBA determines that the applicant can obtain a loan from a 

commercial bank. To prevent duplication of benefits, the FSA and SBA 

loan programs require that disaster assistance funds received from other 

sources be deducted from the amount of an applicant’s qualified loan 

amount.

FSA and SBA Disaster 

Loans Cover Production 

Losses, Physical Damages, 

and Economic Losses
 

Page 16 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

Table 3: FSA and SBA Disaster Loan Programs

Program Provisions Covered losses

FSA’s Emergency 

Loan Program

Provides up to $500,000 to help 

agricultural producers recover 

from production and physical 

losses from drought, flooding, 

other natural disasters, or 

quarantine.

Crops, livestock, equipment, 

and other farm property

SBA’s Economic 

Injury Disaster Loan 

Program

Provides up to $2 million in 

working capital for disasterrelated needs until the business 

recovers.

Working capital for small 

businesses, including small 

aquaculture enterprises, small 

nurseries affected by a 

drought disaster declaration, 

small agricultural 

cooperatives, and businesses 

that support agriculture

a

SBA’s Physical 

Disaster Loan 

Program

Provides up to $2 million for a 

business to repair, rehabilitate, or 

replace damaged property, 

including real estate, equipment, 

inventory, and fixtures.

Businesses that support 

agriculture and nonagricultural 

components of agricultural 

businesses (e.g., a processing 

facility) a

Sources: GAO review of federal disaster loan program information provided by FSA and SBA.

a

The aggregate loan limit for economic injury and physical disaster loans cannot exceed the lesser of 

the uncompensated economic injury and physical loss or $2 million. The SBA Administrator may 

increase the $2 million loan limit based on appropriate economic indicators for a region. 

FSA and SBA disaster loans are a backup option for small agricultural 

producers and businesses that do not qualify for commercial loans. 

However, applicants must still demonstrate that they will be able to repay 

the loans and, with some exceptions, they must provide collateral. In 

addition, each of the loan programs has additional eligibility requirements.

To qualify for an FSA Emergency Loan, aquaculture and nursery 

producers must meet the “family farm” size criteria. In addition, the 

producer must have suffered at least a 30 percent loss in crop production, 

or any amount of physical loss to real estate or farm property, such as 

equipment or livestock. The farm or ranch must be located in a declared 

disaster county or qualifying nearby county. Small aquaculture and 

nursery producers are eligible for FSA Emergency Loans, provided that 

they meet the general program requirements.

Small aquaculture and nursery producers are also eligible for SBA’s 

Economic Injury Disaster Loans; however, other types of agricultural 

producers are not. Under SBA operating procedures, small aquaculture 

producers whose businesses can be classified as aquaculture enterprises 
 

Page 17 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

within the North American Industry Classification System codes and meet 

the general loan requirements are eligible for Economic Injury Disaster 

Loans. The North American Industry Classification System is the standard 

used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business 

establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing 

statistical data related to the U.S. business economy. However, small 

nursery producers are only eligible when they are affected by drought 

disasters designated by the Secretary of Agriculture. Small agricultural 

cooperatives and businesses that support agriculture, such as planting 

and animal breeding services, are also eligible for Economic Injury 

Disaster Loans. SBA’s Physical Disaster Loans are not available to 

agricultural producers, including aquaculture and, according to SBA 

officials, nurseries that derive at least half of their annual income from 

producing and selling nursery products. However, if an agricultural 

producer also has a separate component to the business, such as a 

processing facility, the separate business may be eligible for assistance.

There are few gaps in the disaster assistance available to most small 

agricultural producers after a natural disaster occurs, according to our 

review of FSA and SBA disaster assistance programs. The agencies’ 

cash assistance and loan programs supplement the assistance provided 

through the Federal Crop Insurance Program and NAP. In other cases, 

exclusions or limitations specified in one disaster assistance program 

may be covered in another disaster assistance program. For example, 

crawfish, catfish, or many other aquaculture losses are covered by SURE 

but not other FSA disaster assistance programs because, as previously 

noted, these programs specify that benefits cannot be duplicated. 

Similarly, exclusions and limitations that arise in some of the other FSA 

disaster assistance programs are often covered by another disaster 

assistance program. For example, agricultural producers whose farms are 

larger than family farms are not eligible for FSA’s Emergency Loans but 

may still be able to obtain assistance under one of FSA’s cash assistance 

programs, which do not have similar size requirements.

FSA and SBA disaster assistance programs for agricultural producers do 

not cover all disaster scenarios, however. FSA officials stated that FSA’s 

disaster assistance programs generally only cover losses resulting from 

natural disasters. For example, according to FSA officials, FSA programs 

generally will not cover plant and animal diseases and insect infestations 

unless they were directly caused or exacerbated by a natural disaster. 

Officials told us that disasters resulting from human error or negligence, 

such as an oil spill or some wildfires, are also not covered by FSA, 

Gaps in Disaster 

Assistance Coverage Are 

Few
 

Page 18 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

although SBA’s disaster loans may cover some of these losses. In 

addition, FSA’s disaster assistance programs do not cover economic 

losses caused by a decrease in demand for a product, even if the low 

demand is linked to a natural disaster. Likewise, according to SBA 

officials, SBA’s disaster assistance programs do not cover such losses if 

the decrease in demand is both temporary and the result of a declared 

disaster. However, SBA officials said that if a drought decreases demand 

for a nursery producer’s stock because consumers do not want to 

purchase plants when water is scarce, the lost working capital necessary 

to pay recurring expenses that the business could have generated had 

the disaster not occurred is an eligible loss. Furthermore, several of 

FSA’s disaster assistance programs require that agricultural producers 

experience a minimum level of losses and, according to FSA officials, 

practice standard farm management practices to qualify for assistance. 

For example, the Livestock Indemnity Program does not cover poultry 

deaths when adverse weather causes equipment, such as cooling fans 

for poultry houses, to fail, and the producer did not follow certain 

management practices, such as having backup electrical generators in 

place. However, both FSA and SBA have other loan programs that 

agricultural producers can use when they do not qualify for disaster 

assistance and want to restore their operations. Producers can use FSA’s 

Operating Loans to cover farm operating expenses, including farm 

supplies such as seeds and equipment, to make repairs, and to make 

essential purchases such as livestock and feed. SBA’s 7(a) Loan 

Guaranty Program is available to small agricultural producers to purchase 

land, inventory, and supplies, and provide working capital, among other 

things.16

FSA programs prohibit payment duplication, preventing producers from 

receiving multiple payments for the same or similar losses. However, 

these nonduplication clauses do not prevent producers from enrolling in 

multiple programs to cover their losses. According to FSA officials, in the 

event of major disasters, such as hurricanes and tornadoes, producers 

may obtain assistance through more than one of the eight FSA programs 

to address all of their damages (see tables 1 through 3 for information on 

program purposes and covered losses).

 

16SBA’s 7(a) loan program guarantees loans made by commercial lenders—mostly 

banks—to small businesses for working capital and other general business purposes.
 

Page 19 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

Three main factors may limit small aquaculture and nursery producers’ 

participation in the 6 of the 10 disaster assistance programs for which 

they could be eligible. First, many producers did not apply for the 

assistance because they were not aware of these programs. Second, 

some producers did not apply for it because they sought relief through 

other options, such as other federal grants and private loans. Third, some 

producers applied but did not qualify because they did not meet certain 

program requirements. Table 4 shows the six disaster assistance 

programs—four cash assistance and two loan programs—that small 

aquaculture and nursery producers could apply for.

Table 4: Disaster Assistance Programs That Cover Aquaculture and Nursery 

Losses

Program Aquaculture Nursery

FSA SURE X X 

FSA TAP X 

FSA ELAP X 

FSA Emergency Conservation Program X X 

FSA Emergency Loan Program X X 

SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program X X 

Sources: GAO review of disaster assistance programs.

Many small aquaculture producers and some small nursery producers did 

not apply for disaster assistance because they were not aware of FSA’s 

or SBA’s programs, according to aquaculture and nursery industry 

representatives and FSA and SBA officials we interviewed. According to 

most state-level aquaculture industry representatives and, to a lesser 

extent, nursery industry representatives, aquaculture and nursery 

producers in their states were generally not aware of FSA’s or SBA’s 

disaster assistance programs or that they could be eligible for financial 

assistance through these programs. For example, a representative of a 

state-level aquaculture association said its members were either not 

aware they could be eligible for, or were misinformed about, FSA disaster 

assistance programs and did not use SBA programs. Several FSA and 

SBA officials told us that both small aquaculture and nursery producers 

fall outside of their usual customer bases and may not be aware of their 

disaster assistance programs. In general, these producers do not have a 

past or current relationship with FSA or SBA. However, in two states 

where aquaculture producers also grow other crops and participate in 

other FSA programs, FSA officials said these producers were more likely 

Awareness and 

Eligibility Issues Limit 

Small Aquaculture 

and Nursery 

Producers’ 

Participation in 

Disaster Assistance 

Programs 

Small Producers Do Not 

Apply Primarily Because 

They Are Not Aware That 

Assistance Is Available
 

Page 20 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

to become aware of FSA’s disaster assistance programs. For example, 

FSA officials in one large aquaculture state told us that some of the 

state’s small aquaculture producers are aware of FSA because they grow 

other crops covered by FSA’s agriculture support programs. In addition, a 

catfish producer we spoke with had worked with FSA on other issues and 

was familiar with FSA disaster assistance programs but was not aware of 

SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans. In contrast, a representative of a 

state nursery industry association said that he had not considered going 

to FSA for nursery-related matters, despite having experience working 

with FSA on matters affecting other types of agricultural producers. He 

also said that nursery producers in his state may not be aware of disaster 

assistance programs and do not identify themselves as agricultural 

producers, so do not think of FSA as a resource when a disaster occurs.

Participation among small aquaculture and nursery producers was low in 

certain FSA disaster assistance programs, according to FSA officials, and 

few aquaculture producers applied for SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster 

Loan Program, according to SBA officials. For example, FSA officials we 

interviewed in one state with aquaculture and nursery farms numbering in 

the top 10 compared with other states, as of 2009 and 2007, respectively, 

reported receiving only 1 aquaculture and 3 nursery applications out of a 

total of nearly 2,500 applications for SURE between January 2011 and 

June 2012. In addition, they reported receiving only 2 aquaculture and 2 

nursery applications out of a total of nearly 2,750 for Emergency 

Conservation Program assistance during 2011. FSA national-level loan 

officials also said that they received few applications for Emergency 

Loans from aquaculture and nursery producers. For example, FSA 

officials from a state with large aquaculture and nursery industries 

reported that they did not receive any Emergency Loan applications from 

aquaculture producers and only 7 applications from nursery producers in 

fiscal years 2010 through 2011. Similarly, SBA officials told us, as of July 

2012, they had received only 3 Economic Injury Disaster Loan 

applications from aquaculture producers since the Small Business Jobs 

Act of 2010 extended eligibility to aquaculture producers.

We have reported that reaching a program’s intended recipients is an 

important measure of program performance.17

 

17GAO, Designing Evaluations: 2012 Revision, 

Outreach is one approach 

GAO-12-208G (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 31, 

2012) and GAO, Managing for Results: Views on Ensuring the Usefulness of Agency 

Performance Information to Congress, GAO/GGD-00-35 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 26, 

2000). 
 

Page 21 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

to increasing awareness of federal programs among intended recipients. 

Both FSA and SBA conduct outreach related to their disaster assistance 

programs, but their methods do not help to ensure that small aquaculture 

and nursery producers are aware of their potential eligibility for the 

programs. Therefore, aquaculture and nursery producers may be missing 

opportunities to receive assistance that could help them maintain a viable 

business after experiencing a natural disaster. Specifically, FSA’s 

outreach activities include notifying local media outlets; minority, civic, 

and business organizations; and FSA’s existing customers about FSA’s 

disaster assistance programs. In addition, FSA national-level officials told 

us that the public may sign up for disaster assistance e-mail updates on 

the FSA website. However, FSA national-level officials told us FSA’s 

outreach approach does not directly target aquaculture and nursery 

industry organizations. In addition, aquaculture and nursery producers are 

often not in FSA’s customer database, so they would not receive FSA 

newsletters that contain information about disaster assistance. For 

example, FSA officials in a state with a large nursery industry said that 

they do not conduct outreach to the nursery industry, although they reach 

out to other agricultural producers. Therefore, aquaculture and nursery 

producers may not see all information FSA releases. In addition, those 

who receive disaster assistance information may not realize they could be 

eligible for assistance from FSA because some do not identify as a part of 

the agriculture industry.

Similarly, SBA provides information to disaster victims; current SBA 

customers; media outlets; Small Business Development Centers; 

Chambers of Commerce; and federal, state, and local officials about SBA 

disaster loans. SBA national-level officials told us they have not contacted 

small aquaculture or nursery producers or their industry representatives 

directly about SBA disaster loans. While SBA developed postdisaster 

procedures that include contacting aquaculture industry associations, 

officials told us that, as of July 2012, they had not contacted any 

aquaculture industry associations. They told us there has been little 

disaster activity affecting aquaculture producers since they became 

eligible for SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans, but that they would 

follow these procedures for future disaster declarations. As a result, 

aquaculture and nursery producers may not be aware they could be 

eligible for SBA disaster assistance.

FSA and SBA have indicated a willingness to help aquaculture and 

nursery producers seek disaster assistance when asked. Several 

representatives of state-level aquaculture and two nursery industry 

associations said they have requested and received help from FSA field 
 

Page 22 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

offices on numerous occasions about disaster assistance eligibility and 

payment issues. Of these, most noted they have a good relationship with 

the agency. For example, one state’s aquaculture association 

representative noticed that his producers were not aware they could be 

eligible for, or were misinformed about, FSA disaster assistance. He 

requested FSA’s help in educating producers about disaster assistance. 

As a result, FSA may participate in the industry’s annual conference to 

increase producers’ familiarity with FSA services. Similarly, SBA nationallevel officials told us they were interested in helping aquaculture 

producers obtain access to SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans and 

have taken steps to bring these producers to SBA. For example, SBA’s 

disaster loan announcements specify that aquaculture producers are 

eligible for their Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program.

Some small aquaculture and nursery producers may not apply for FSA or 

SBA disaster assistance programs for which they could be eligible 

because they have other options for assistance, including other federal 

grant programs and other federal or private loans, according to FSA 

officials and industry representatives. FSA national-level officials told us 

that one reason they had received few applications for ELAP from 

aquaculture producers to cover disaster-related feed losses was because 

many aquaculture producers had received assistance for historically high 

feed costs through FSA’s Aquaculture Grant Program, which was active 

in 2008 and 2009. Aquaculture producers who receive 2008 or 2009 

Aquaculture Grant Program payments are not eligible for aquaculture 

feed losses under ELAP for the same species for which the grant benefits 

were received because producers cannot receive duplicate payments for 

the same loss under multiple programs. FSA officials also noted that 

SURE covers physical losses for the majority of aquaculture species, 

while ELAP only covers physical losses of game fish and baitfish. 

Therefore, FSA received few ELAP applications from aquaculture 

producers. In addition, some small nursery producers in particular do not 

apply for FSA Emergency Loans or SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans 

because they apply for other loans or prefer not to take out a loan, 

according to most loan officials and several nursery representatives. For 

example, some FSA officials said that some small nursery producers 

choose to apply for FSA Operating Loans rather than Emergency Loans. 

According to FSA national-level officials, Operating Loans may be more 

attractive to these producers because their interest rates are currently 

lower than Emergency Loans, and they do not require applicants to 

document disaster losses. The Operating Loan interest rate has been 

below the Emergency Loan interest rate since November 2008—1.25 

Some Producers Do Not 

Apply for Disaster 

Assistance Because They 

Have Other Options
 

Page 23 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

percent as of July 2012 and 3.75 percent since January 1994, 

respectively. However, as previously noted, USDA announced in July 

2012 that the Emergency Loan rate would be reduced to 2.25 percent. 

The Operating Loan rate is tied to the government’s cost of borrowing, 

and FSA officials told us it is historically low because of the economic 

downturn. However, FSA officials noted that Emergency Loans remain an 

important option for some producers who have exhausted their Operating 

Loan statutory term limits by receiving an Operating Loan in 7 different 

years or have reached the statutory loan size limit of $300,000 and need 

additional funds. SBA officials said that some aquaculture producers’ 

disaster losses may be covered sufficiently by insurance or they may 

seek out grants rather than loans. In addition, two nursery industry 

representatives said that small nursery producers affected by disasters 

may take out private loans because they are familiar with their local 

banks. Another nursery industry representative said that other small 

nursery producers do not take out any loans because they do not want to 

take on more debt.

Some small aquaculture and nursery producers did not receive disaster 

assistance from FSA or SBA primarily because (1) their losses were less 

than the required minimums, (2) they did not meet the crop insurance or 

NAP coverage requirement, or (3) they did not meet loan eligibility 

requirements. First, three programs available to aquaculture and nursery 

producers—SURE, TAP, and the Emergency Loan Program—set 

minimum loss requirements as a condition of receiving assistance. As a 

result, some small aquaculture and nursery producers did not experience 

the required levels of losses. Several FSA officials told us this was 

primarily because they tend to have more control over their operating 

conditions relative to other types of agricultural producers, which tends to 

limit damage from a disaster. For example, FSA officials in a state with a 

large aquaculture industry told us that catfish ponds tend to experience 

little damage from flooding. In addition, FSA officials in another state 

denied five of six SURE applications from nursery and aquaculture 

producers last year because controlled operating conditions limited 

disaster losses. Therefore, these applicants did not meet the SURE 

requirement that they experience at least a 10 percent crop loss on at 

least one crop of economic significance on their farm if they were located 

in a declared disaster county or a county adjacent to a disaster county or, 

at least a 50 percent loss of the normal production on their farms from a 

natural disaster if they were not located in a declared disaster county or 

contiguous county. Similarly, FSA national-level officials told us that small 

nursery producers often do not qualify for TAP because their trees or 

Some Small Producers Do 

Not Meet Certain 

Requirements for Disaster 

Assistance
 

Page 24 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

plants were damaged but not destroyed in a disaster. Only trees that are 

destroyed or damaged such that it would be more cost-effective to 

replace them are considered in determining whether the loss threshold is 

met and, therefore, whether an applicant will receive a payment. As 

previously mentioned, to qualify for TAP, a producer must have sustained 

a loss in excess of 15 percent of the trees, bushes, or vines in an 

individual stand—a contiguous acreage of the same type of plant—after 

adjusting for normal mortality or damage.

Furthermore, because aquaculture and nursery producers have more 

control over their operating conditions compared with other types of 

agricultural producers, FSA expects these producers to follow certain 

management practices to decrease their risk of disaster losses. If they fail 

to do so, FSA may deny a request for assistance. For example, according 

to FSA officials in one state, they did not approve an application for SURE 

from a tilapia producer because they determined that the producer could 

have prevented the tilapia losses. That is, the tilapia died because the 

water in their tank was too hot, and the producer could have controlled 

the water temperature. Similarly, FSA disaster assistance programs 

typically do not cover nursery losses from drought because irrigation is a 

standard practice for nursery producers. FSA officials in a state with a 

large nursery industry also told us that nursery producers can control the 

location of their potted trees and plants. As such, producers could avoid 

losses from a freeze by moving the pots indoors.

Second, several representatives from state-level nursery industry 

associations said that small nursery producers often did not receive 

disaster assistance because they did not enroll in crop insurance. As 

previously mentioned, enrolling in crop insurance or purchasing NAP are 

generally prerequisites for several FSA disaster assistance programs. 

FSA officials in some states in which we conducted interviews also said 

that nursery producers often do not meet this requirement. FSA nationallevel officials told us that because crop insurance coverage is widely 

available to nurseries, there are few instances when nurseries would use 

NAP. National-level officials from USDA’s RMA told us that nursery 

producers may not enroll in crop insurance because they see little risk of 

disaster losses because they operate under controlled conditions. In 

addition, RMA officials told us that both aquaculture and nursery 

producers continuously plant and harvest their crops, reducing their risk 

of losing an entire year’s crops to a single natural disaster. According to 

one state’s nursery industry representative, some producers do not 

realize that crop insurance is a prerequisite for receiving disaster 

assistance under several of the FSA programs. FSA national-level 
 

Page 25 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

officials said that because disaster assistance programs only recently 

included crop insurance or NAP enrollment as a eligibility requirement, 

many producers are just beginning to see the connection between having 

crop insurance and obtaining disaster assistance. Small aquaculture 

producers’ participation in crop insurance and NAP tended to vary by 

state, according to state aquaculture representatives.

Third, some small aquaculture and nursery producers did not meet the 

requirements of FSA’s Emergency Loan or SBA’s Economic Injury 

Disaster Loan Programs. According to most FSA state-level loan officials, 

small aquaculture and nursery producers did not receive assistance from 

the Emergency Loan Program primarily because they could not 

demonstrate an ability to repay the loan. The program requires that 

applicants submit a farm operating plan as part of their loan application to 

demonstrate their ability to pay back the loan according to a set schedule. 

The farm operating plan includes applicants’ projected cash flow budget 

reflecting production, income, expenses, and loan repayment plan. FSA 

reviews the farm operating plan along with other application documents. If 

FSA officials determine the plan is not feasible, they will deny the loan 

request. For example, an FSA loan official in one state with a large 

nursery industry told us that the small nursery producer applicants who 

were denied Emergency Loans were often in tenuous financial positions 

prior to the disaster and, once the disaster hit, did not have the means to 

repay a loan.

Similarly, SBA national-level officials told us they declined Economic 

Injury Disaster Loans to some small nursery producers because 

applicants could not demonstrate the ability to repay the loan. SBA loan 

officials assess applicants’ repayment ability by evaluating financial 

information submitted by Economic Injury Disaster Loan applicants. In 

addition, SBA denied two of the three Economic Injury Disaster Loan 

applications submitted by small aquaculture producers nationwide: one

because the business did not meet the small size requirement and the 

other because it was located in a coastal barrier resource area.18

 

18The Coastal Barrier Resources Act of 1982, and later amendments, removed the federal 

government from financial involvement associated with building and development in 

undeveloped portions of designated coastal barriers (including the Great Lakes). These 

areas were mapped and designated as Coastal Barrier Resources System units or 

“otherwise” protected areas.

Federal 

law generally prohibits the federal government from lending in a coastal 
 

Page 26 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

barrier resource area. The third application was withdrawn by the 

applicant before SBA began processing it.

FSA and SBA engaged in some efforts to collaborate in providing disaster

assistance to small aquaculture and nursery producers, but the efforts 

were limited to referring producers from one agency to the other without 

identifying the assistance that may be available to these producers. 

Specifically, FSA officials told us that when they collaborate with SBA, it is 

at the local level on a disaster-by-disaster basis or when a disaster event 

is concentrated and losses are immediate. These collaborative efforts 

generally are limited to presidentially declared disasters, where, both SBA 

and FSA officials told us, the agencies have participated in multiagency 

disaster recovery centers established by FEMA. According to SBA 

officials and as provided by SBA’s website, the agency also has taken 

steps on its own to inform agricultural producers (including small 

aquaculture and nursery producers) that FSA provides disaster 

assistance. SBA posts some information on its website showing that FSA 

administers and manages disaster assistance and loan programs through 

a network of federal, state, and county offices and that producers eligible 

for SBA assistance should also consider getting assistance from FSA. 

SBA also mentions FSA and USDA in the disaster notices it publishes 

following a Secretary of Agriculture-declared disaster. In addition, 

according to SBA officials, SBA advises applicants orally and in writing to 

check with FSA for assistance when they have been declined SBA 

assistance because their affected businesses were primarily agricultural 

and not covered by the statutes that extended eligibility to aquaculture 

and nursery producers. However, SBA typically does not provide 

producers information about the type of FSA disaster assistance.

We identified one primary reason for FSA’s and SBA’s limited 

collaboration. Both FSA national-level officials and state-level Emergency 

Loan officials told us that FSA field staff know little about SBA’s disaster 

assistance programs, and SBA staff know little about what factors affect 

whether an agricultural loan will be repaid. According to FSA nationallevel officials, the FSA Emergency Loan and SBA disaster loan programs 

have little in common, but FSA’s limited knowledge of SBA’s programs 

may reduce the abilities of both agencies to meet the needs of small 

aquaculture and nursery producers affected by disasters. FSA nationallevel officials said that their loan officers at the state and county levels 

may have some general knowledge of SBA’s disaster assistance 

programs, but that those loan officers may not know the programs in 

enough detail to inform a producer about them. They also said that FSA 

FSA and SBA Efforts 

to Collaborate on 

Disaster Assistance to 

Small Aquaculture 

and Nursery 

Producers Are 

Limited
 

Page 27 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

does not expect its county officials to be familiar with SBA’s disaster 

assistance programs. Consequently, the national-level FSA officials said 

that any knowledge their loan officers might have about SBA’s programs 

is likely to occur in local FSA offices that know more about SBA. Similarly, 

several state-level FSA loan officials we spoke with said that they were 

aware that SBA had disaster assistance programs but were not 

necessarily familiar with them. Also, FSA’s national-level office has not 

provided any guidance explaining SBA’s programs to its staff. In contrast, 

SBA national-level officials told us that they and their customer service 

representatives were generally familiar with FSA’s disaster assistance 

programs; however, they also told us that they have a limited 

understanding of the factors that might lead small aquaculture and 

nursery producers to repay their loans, which could make it challenging to 

serve them. SBA officials also told us that, historically, SBA has not 

focused on providing disaster assistance to aquaculture and nursery 

producers because SBA is prohibited by law from providing disaster loans 

to other agricultural producers.19

In June 2010, we reported that, by using informal coordination 

mechanisms, agencies may rely on relationships with individual officials 

to ensure effective collaboration and that these informal relationships 

could end once personnel move to their next assignments.

Consequently, the officials told us, SBA 

has not provided disaster assistance to many small aquaculture and 

nursery producers. Similarly, the FSA officials said that they and SBA 

understand the small aquaculture and nursery industries differently, giving 

them little reason to collaboratively provide assistance. However, both 

FSA and SBA provide assistance to aquaculture and nursery producers 

that is complementary, but they have not established compatible policies, 

procedures, and other means to coordinate their programs. In the 

absence of such practices, collaboration between FSA and SBA has been 

informal.

20

 

19With the enactment of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, small enterprises engaged 

in aquaculture are eligible for Economic Injury Disaster Loans. SBA has implemented this 

change in the law by allowing aquaculture enterprises that are small businesses to apply 

for Economic Injury Disaster Loans for economic injury covered under disaster 

declarations issued on or after the effective date of the act (September 27, 2010).

Without 

written procedures, agencies’ roles and responsibilities are not clearly 

defined. We reported that agencies can strengthen their commitment to 

20GAO, National Security: Key Challenges and Solutions to Strengthen Interagency 

Collaboration, GAO-10-822T (Washington, D.C.: June 9, 2010).
 

Page 28 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

work collaboratively by articulating their roles and responsibilities in 

formal documents to facilitate decision making. Such formal documents 

can include memoranda of understanding, interagency guidance, or 

interagency planning documents, signed by senior officials in the 

respective agencies. These documents can clarify which agencies will be 

responsible for particular activities and how they will organize their joint 

and individual efforts. As we reported in October 2005, agencies that 

have complementary programs can enhance the value of these programs 

through interagency collaboration. 21

With limited information and no documented approach or policy to guide 

their collaboration, FSA and SBA personnel have not consistently referred 

applicants for disaster assistance to the other agency and, in turn, there 

has been little opportunity for small aquaculture and nursery producers to 

get assistance for which they may qualify. FSA national-level officials told 

us that they have discussed SBA disaster assistance with FSA field staff 

but have not provided written guidance on when or how its staff should 

refer producers, including aquaculture and nursery producers, to SBA. 

Among the key practices we 

identified were (1) defining and articulating a common federal outcome; 

(2) establishing strategies that are mutually reinforcing or joint to help the 

agencies align their activities, core processes, and resources to 

accomplish their common outcome; (3) agreeing on roles and 

responsibilities; (4) establishing compatible policies, procedures, and 

other means to operate across agency boundaries; and (5) including 

collaboration competencies in designing performance management 

systems and set performance expectations for collaboration to reinforce 

individual accountability for collaborative efforts. In the absence of such 

practices, collaboration between FSA and SBA has been based on limited 

information and not guided by any formal collaborative policy, guidance, 

or process. FSA and SBA have not adopted formal or written memoranda 

of understanding or interagency policies regarding their collaboration on 

disaster assistance programs. Both FSA and SBA national-level officials 

told us that they have no central guidance in place to facilitate 

collaboration with SBA on implementing their assistance programs. The 

SBA officials added that they did not see any need for written guidance 

because, in their view, the FSA and SBA disaster assistance programs do 

not overlap, and thus there are no “gray” areas that would require formal 

collaboration.

 

21GAO-06-15. 
 

Page 29 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

Further, FSA officials from two states said that, while they had referred 

large agricultural producers to SBA for other assistance, they had not 

done so for disaster assistance. They also said that because of their 

limited understanding of SBA’s disaster assistance programs and little 

contact with SBA, they were not clear about the circumstances under 

which they should refer producers to SBA. Officials from four FSA state 

offices also told us that such referrals are either few and decreasing or 

not made in their states. Similarly, SBA national-level officials told us that 

while their loan officers may advise applicants to check with FSA for 

assistance, they do not routinely refer applicants to FSA. Consequently, 

small aquaculture and nursery producers likely have had less of an 

opportunity to get the disaster assistance for which they may qualify than 

they would have if FSA and SBA consistently referred producers to the 

other agency. In addition, several representatives of the aquaculture and 

nursery industries told us that they were not sure whether or how FSA 

and SBA coordinated their disaster programs, and a representative from 

another nursery association was not aware of any nursery producers that 

had been referred by either agency to the other. However, a 

representative from another nursery association noted that SBA had 

referred some producers to FSA, and the representative of another 

nursery association recalled that FSA had referred producers to SBA. 

Officials with one FSA state office told us that nursery producers who 

sought assistance from FSA or SBA could get bounced back and forth 

between the agencies while they determined whether the producers were 

eligible for assistance. Without more formal collaboration, applicants for 

disaster assistance may not be consistently referred by one agency to the 

other, leading to fewer opportunities for these small producers to get 

assistance for which they otherwise might qualify, and the value of these 

disaster assistance programs is diminished for aquaculture and nursery 

producers.

FSA’s and SBA’s 10 disaster assistance programs serve largely different 

populations but can provide an important safety net to help small 

agricultural producers recover from disasters. However, even though six 

FSA and SBA disaster assistance programs are open to small 

aquaculture and nursery producers, these producers are missing 

opportunities to receive such assistance. Small aquaculture and nursery 

producers are not using these programs as much as other agricultural 

producers, in part, because of their unique operations, such as the 

controlled growing environments that inherently mitigate disaster losses. 

Furthermore, they are not fully aware of the opportunities that exist. 

Because they do not apply for and receive assistance for which they 

could be eligible, small aquaculture and nursery producers’ disaster 

Conclusions
 

Page 30 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

losses have the potential to significantly affect their ability to maintain a 

viable business. Both FSA and SBA conduct outreach related to their 

disaster assistance programs, but their methods do not help to ensure 

that small aquaculture and nursery producers are aware of their potential 

eligibility for the programs. In addition, FSA and SBA engaged in some 

efforts to collaborate in providing disaster assistance to such producers, 

but the efforts were limited. Moreover, FSA’s general lack of awareness 

about SBA’s disaster assistance programs and SBA’s limited 

understanding of the factors that might lead small aquaculture and 

nursery producers to repay their loans reduce both agencies’ abilities to 

fully serve these producers. Without a more formal collaborative approach 

between the agencies such as through a memorandum of understanding 

and further education of staff about the other agency’s disaster 

assistance programs, applicants for disaster assistance may not be 

consistently referred by one agency to the other, leading to fewer 

opportunities for these small producers to get assistance for which they 

otherwise might qualify.

To help ensure that small aquaculture and nursery producers are aware 

of the disaster assistance programs available to them, we recommend 

that the Secretary of Agriculture and the Administrator of the Small 

Business Administration direct FSA and SBA officials to take the following 

two actions:

• Conduct targeted outreach to small aquaculture and nursery 

producers, for example, by building on existing agency outreach 

programs.

• Develop a strategy to better formalize collaboration through means 

such as developing a memorandum of understanding on interagency 

collaboration and educating staff about the other agency’s disaster 

assistance programs.

We provided the Secretary of Agriculture and the Administrator of the 

Small Business Administration with a draft of this report for review and 

comment. The departments did not provide official written comments to 

include in our report. However, in e-mails received August 23, 2012, the 

USDA and SBA liaisons stated that USDA and SBA generally concurred 

with our recommendations. USDA and SBA also provided written 

technical comments, which we incorporated into the report as 

appropriate.

Recommendations for 

Executive Action

Agency Comments
 

Page 31 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

As agreed with your office, unless you publicly announce the contents of 

this report earlier, we plan no further distribution until 30 days from the 

report date. At that time, we will send copies to the Secretary of 

Agriculture, the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, the 

appropriate congressional committees, and other interested parties. In 

addition, the report will be available at no charge on the GAO website at 

http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staff members have any questions about this report, please 

contact Lisa Shames at (202) 512-3841 or shamesl@gao.gov or William 

B. Shear at (202) 512-8678 or shearw@gao.gov. Contact points for our 

Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on 

the last page of this report. Key contributors to this report are listed in 

appendix III.

Sincerely yours,

Lisa Shames

Director, Natural Resources and 

Environment

William B. Shear

Director, Financial Markets and

Community Investment 
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 32 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

Our objectives for this engagement were to (1) examine selected U.S. 

Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Small 

Business Administration (SBA) disaster assistance programs and the 

types of small agricultural producers that they cover; (2) identify the main 

factors, if any, that may limit small aquaculture and nursery producers’ 

participation in disaster assistance from FSA and SBA; and (3) examine 

FSA and SBA efforts to collaborate in providing disaster assistance to 

small aquaculture and nursery producers.

To address these objectives, we reviewed 10 FSA and SBA disaster 

assistance programs for agricultural producers and businesses that 

support agriculture and interviewed the FSA and SBA officials responsible 

for managing and administering each program. We reviewed these 10 

programs because they become available to agricultural producers and 

businesses that support agriculture following a natural disaster and 

provide direct financial assistance in the forms of cash payments and 

reimbursements, as well as loans to agricultural producers and 

businesses that support agriculture that have experienced losses due to 

disasters. We use the term “agricultural producers” to refer to family 

farms, commodity producers, aquaculture producers, nursery producers, 

and other farmers and ranchers. Businesses that support agriculture 

refers to businesses that provide support activities for agriculture that do 

not lead to agricultural production. Examples of support activities include 

such duties as cotton ginning, soil preparation, planting, and breeding 

services for animals. Our primary focus was on small agricultural 

producers. While there is no one definition that covers all small 

agricultural producers, we included family farms and other farmers and 

ranchers whose size makes them particularly vulnerable to disasters 

because they tend to have less control over their economic security in 

general, and disasters can exacerbate that insecurity.1

 

1

For individual borrowers, FSA’s definition of “family farm” specifies that the majority of 

day-to-day, operational decisions and all strategic management decisions be made by the 

borrower or a relative, and a substantial amount of labor to operate the farm be provided 

by the borrower or a relative. For corporations, partnerships, or other entities, the majority 

of day-to-day, operational decisions, and all strategic management decisions must be 

made, and a substantial amount of labor to operate the farm be provided by the members 

responsible for operating the farm.

When FSA or SBA 

established specific size criteria for program eligibility, we used those 

criteria in our review. FSA administers 8 of the 10 programs, including the 

5 disaster assistance programs that were authorized by Title XV of the 

2008 farm bill, the Emergency Forest Restoration Program, the 

Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology 
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 33 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

Emergency Conservation Program, and the Emergency Loan Program. 2

To determine the types of small agricultural producers the FSA and SBA 

programs cover, we reviewed agency documents, authorizing statutes, 

and implementing regulations to obtain information about each program, 

including eligibility requirements, and interviewed FSA and SBA officials. 

When analyzing whether gaps in coverage exist, we reviewed and 

analyzed FSA technical program handbooks and SBA program 

summaries and interviewed FSA and SBA officials. We analyzed major 

categories of agricultural producers involved in the production of food and 

fiber, including commodities, specialty crops, orchard and nursery 

products, and livestock, including aquaculture producers. We believe that 

this has enabled us to identify gaps in coverage, but we recognize that 

there could be additional gaps that we did not detect in this analysis.

The programs authorized by Title XV of the 2008 farm bill are the 

Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-raised Fish 

Program, the Livestock Forage Disaster Program, the Livestock 

Indemnity Program, the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments 

Program, and the Tree Assistance Program. SBA administers the 

remaining two disaster assistance programs, including the Economic 

Injury Disaster Loan and Physical Disaster Loan Programs. We also 

reviewed documents about the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) 

crop insurance program and FSA Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance 

Program and interviewed RMA and FSA officials about how these 

programs interact with the disaster assistance programs in our study.

We focused our second objective on the factors limiting small aquaculture 

and nursery producers’ participation in these disaster assistance 

programs because aquaculture and nursery producers are covered by 

both FSA and SBA disaster assistance programs. Other agricultural 

producers are not covered by the SBA programs. We identified the 

factors limiting small nursery and aquaculture producers’ participation in 

these disaster assistance programs by reviewing the eligibility criteria for 

the programs that pertain to them and by interviewing FSA and SBA 

officials about eligibility criteria and outreach policies and practices. We 

also interviewed state-level FSA officials and industry representatives in 

seven states about the factors that may limit small aquaculture and 

nursery producers’ participation in disaster assistance, including program 

 

2

Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-246, 122 Stat. 1651.
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 34 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

participation and outreach practices. We assessed the agencies’ outreach 

policies and practices against prior GAO reports on reaching a program’s 

intended recipients.3

To determine how FSA and SBA collaborate to provide disaster 

assistance to small nursery and aquaculture producers, we reviewed 

authorizing statutes and FSA and SBA documents and interviewed FSA 

and SBA officials to obtain information about the agencies’ policies and 

practices for collaborating on disaster assistance. We also interviewed 

state-level FSA officials in seven states and industry representatives 

about their experience with the agencies’ collaboration. We examined the 

degree to which the agencies’ collaborative efforts reflected key practices 

we previously identified that can help enhance and sustain collaboration 

among federal agencies.

The industry representatives we selected for 

interviews were heads of aquaculture or nursery industry associations or 

others who could represent the views of producers in their states. The 

states we selected were California, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, 

Mississippi, North Carolina, and Washington. We selected these states 

because they have a significant nursery industry or aquaculture industry 

presence based on the number of nursery and aquaculture farms and 

annual sales, as reported by the 2007 USDA Census of Agriculture. We 

also considered the geographic distribution of the states to ensure that a 

variety of places experiencing different types of natural disasters was 

included. We did not conduct a nationwide study on this issue.

4

We conducted this performance audit from September 2011 to 

September 2012 in accordance with generally accepted government 

auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the 

audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable 

basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We 

believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our 

findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.

In addition, we interviewed officials at the 

Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management 

Agency about its role in coordinating disaster assistance.

 

3

GAO-12-208G and GAO/GGD-00-35. 

4

GAO-06-15. 
Appendix II: Federal Disaster Assistance 

Programs

Page 35 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

Agency and program Purpose

Department of Agriculture

Federal Crop Insurance Program Federally subsidized insurance program that covers crop and 

livestock losses due to natural disasters as well as other risks.

Disaster Set-Aside Program Provides producers in disaster counties declared or contiguous to 

disaster counties who have existing direct loans with FSA and are 

unable to make loan payments with the opportunity to set aside up to 

1 full year’s payment to the end of the loan.

Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Provides food assistance specifically for disaster survivors following a 

presidentially declared disaster. 

Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farmraised Fish ProgramProvides cash assistance for livestock feed losses and deaths that 

are not covered by other FSA disaster assistance programs, farmraised fish, and honeybee deaths and feed losses.

a

Emergency Conservation Program Provides partial reimbursement for agricultural producers to 

rehabilitate farmland that has been severely damaged.

a

Emergency Forest Restoration Program Provides partial reimbursement for owners of nonindustrial private 

forestland (including farmers and ranchers) in order to carry out 

emergency measures to restore damaged land.

a

Emergency Loan Program Provides loans up to $500,000 to help small agricultural producers 

recover from production and physical losses due to drought, flooding, 

other natural disasters, or quarantine.

a

Emergency Haying and Grazing of Conservation Reserve 

Program 

Allows livestock producers enrolled in the program to hay or graze 

Conservation Reserve Program acreage during an emergency in 

counties that have suffered a 40 percent or greater loss in normal 

hay and pasture production due to drought or excessive moisture.

Livestock Forage Disaster Program Provides cash assistance for livestock grazing losses caused by 

qualifying drought conditions or a fire on federal land used for 

grazing.

a

Livestock Indemnity Program Provides cash assistance for livestock deaths in excess of normal 

mortality due to adverse weather.

a

Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program Provides coverage for crops for which crop insurance is not available. 

Results in cash payments to preenrolled producers when low yields,

loss of inventory, or prevented planting occur due to natural 

disasters. 

Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program Provides cash assistance for agricultural producers with qualifying 

crop production losses or crop quality losses.

a

Tree Assistance Program Provides partial reimbursement for qualifying orchardists and nursery 

producers to replant or rehabilitate eligible trees, bushes, and vines.

a

Department of Health and Human Services

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 

Administration Disaster Technical Assistance Center 

Provides disaster behavioral health technical assistance grant 

support to eligible states, territories, and federally recognized tribes; 

supports FEMA’s Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training 

Program. 

Appendix II: Federal Disaster Assistance 

Programs 
Appendix II: Federal Disaster Assistance 

Programs

Page 36 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

Agency and program Purpose

Department of Homeland Security

Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program Supports short-term interventions that involve the counseling goals of 

assisting survivors of a presidentially declared disaster in 

understanding their current situation and reactions, mitigating stress, 

assisting survivors in reviewing their disaster recovery options, 

promoting the use or development of coping strategies, providing 

emotional support, and encouraging linkages with other individuals 

and agencies who may help survivors in their recovery process.

Disaster Legal Services Provides legal assistance to low-income disaster survivors of a 

presidentially declared disaster. Legal assistance generally includes 

help with insurance claims, hospital bills, lost property, preparing lost 

legal documents, and home repairs and contracts.

Individuals and Households Program–Housing Assistance Provides assistance to individuals and households affected by a 

disaster to enable them to address necessary expenses and serious 

needs, which cannot be met through other forms of disaster 

assistance or insurance. Forms of housing assistance include 

temporary housing, repair, replacement, and 

semipermanent/permanent housing construction.

Individuals and Households Program–Other Needs Assistance Provides assistance to individuals and households affected by a 

disaster to enable them to address necessary expenses and serious 

needs, which cannot be met through other forms of disaster 

assistance or insurance. Forms of other needs assistance include 

personal property, medical, dental, and funeral.

Department of Housing and Urban Development

203(h) Mortgage Insurance for Disaster Victims Helps survivors in presidentially designated disaster areas to obtain 

mortgages to purchase a new home or rebuild their home that was 

destroyed or damaged by a disaster.

Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery 

Assistance 

Provides grants to states, local governments, American Indian tribes, 

and other areas as a result of a presidentially declared disaster to 

rebuild the affected areas and provide seed money to start the 

recovery process. The grants are to primarily benefit low-income 

residents. 

Department of Labor

Disaster Unemployment Assistance Provides unemployment benefits to individuals who have become 

unemployed as a result of a presidentially declared major disaster 

and are not eligible for regular unemployment insurance benefits.

Department of the Interior

Bureau of Indian Affairs Emergency Assistance Provides cash payments to federally recognized American Indians 

and Alaska Native tribe members who suffer from a burnout, flood, or 

other destruction of their homes and loss or damage to personal 

possessions.

Department of the Treasury

Internal Revenue Service Disaster Assistance and Emergency 

Relief Program

Allows taxpayers to deduct nonreimbursed casualty losses in a 

presidentially declared disaster. Taxpayers may deduct the losses in 

the year the disaster occurred or file an amended return to deduct the 

loss in the year preceding the disaster. 
Appendix II: Federal Disaster Assistance 

Programs

Page 37 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

Agency and program Purpose

Savings Bond Redemption and Replacement Allows bond owners in areas affected by a presidentially declared 

disaster to redeem bonds prior to the expiration of the initial 12-

month holding period.

Small Business Administration

Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program Provides working capital loans to small businesses or private, 

nonprofit organizations for up to $2 million in working capital to meet 

financial obligations that could have been met had the disaster not 

occurred. 

a

Home and Property Disaster Loans Provides loans to renters and homeowners up to $40,000 to repair or 

replace clothing, furniture, cars, appliances, etc. damaged or 

destroyed in a disaster and loans to homeowners up to $200,000 to 

repair or replace their primary residence to its predisaster condition.

Business Physical Disaster Loans Provides loans up to $2 million for a business to repair, rehabilitate, 

or replace damaged property, including real estate, equipment, 

inventory, and fixtures.

a

Sources: GAO review of federal disaster assistance programs.

a

These programs are included in this GAO report and are those that become available to agricultural 

producers and businesses that support agriculture following a disaster and provide direct financial 

assistance. 
Appendix III: GAO Contacts and Staff 

Acknowledgments

Page 38 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

Lisa Shames, (202) 512-3841 or shamesl@gao.gov

William B. Shear, (202) 512-8678 or shearw@gao.gov

In addition to the individuals named above, Anne K. Johnson, Assistant 

Director; Kay Kuhlman, Assistant Director; Lucas Alvarez; Kevin Bray; 

Anna Carbino; John Forrester; Annamarie Lopata; Lindsay Read; Anne 

Rhodes-Kline; and Carol Herrnstadt Shulman made significant 

contributions to this report.

Appendix III: GAO Contacts and Staff 

Acknowledgments 

GAO Contacts

Staff 

Acknowledgments
Related GAO Products

Page 39 GAO-12-844 Agriculture Disaster Assistance

Crop Insurance: Savings Would Result from Program Changes and 

Greater Use of Data Mining. GAO-12-256. Washington, D.C.: March 13, 

2012.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Federally Funded Programs Have Helped to 

Address the Needs of Gulf Coast Small Businesses, but Agency Data on 

Subcontracting Are Incomplete. GAO-10-723. Washington, D.C.: July 29, 

2010.

USDA Crop Disaster Programs: Lessons Learned Can Improve 

Implementation of New Crop Assistance Program. GAO-10-548. 

Washington, D.C.: June 4, 2010.

Small Business Administration: Continued Attention Needed to Address 

Reforms to the Disaster Loan Program. GAO-10-735T. Washington, D.C.: 

May 19, 2010.

Small Business Administration: Additional Steps Should Be Taken to 

Address Reforms to the Disaster Loan Program and Improve the 

Application Process for Future Disasters. GAO-09-755. Washington, 

D.C.: July 29, 2009.

Gulf Coast Disaster Recovery: Community Development Block Grant 

Program Guidance to States Needs to Be Improved. GAO-09-541. 

Washington, D.C.: June 19, 2009.

Related GAO Products

(361333)
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