Guide to 

Expanding Mitigation

MAKING THE CONNECTION TO AGRICULTURE 
Cover Photo: Organic farmers arranging vegetables at farmers market in Wash. Photo: Organic farmers arranging vegetables at farmers market in Wash. 

Photo: Cows in a meadow in Bridgeport, Calif. 

Photo: Jersey rooftop tomato farm in Queens County, N.Y. 

Most Americans eat three meals a day without giving much thought to the industries 

that produce our food. The eggs and blueberries at breakfast, the grilled cheese 

sandwich and apple at lunch, or the pork chops with cranberry sauce and potatoes at 

dinner are often produced by nearby farms. Food is indispensable to our livelihoods, 

yet the agriculture sector is typically overlooked when communities plan for hazards. 

When a disaster, such as a major flood, puts food at risk, it is too late to start the 

mitigation actions that would help local farmers. Communities need to incorporate an 

agriculture perspective in their current hazard mitigation planning to add protections 

now, before the next disaster. Agriculture advocacy organizations, farmers, and 

industry experts can be engaged during the hazard mitigation plan process to share 

their insights on vital local crops and resiliency challenges. 

The Guide to Expanding Mitigation shows how community 

officials can work with the agriculture sector to support 

hazard mitigation, including the planning process. This 

guide can help community officials initiate a conversation 

about mitigation investments that will make agriculture 

more resilient. 

This Guide to Expanding 

Mitigation is part of a series

highlighting innovative 

and emerging partnerships 

for mitigation. 

Cover Photo: Organic farmers arranging vegetables at farmers market in Wash. 

Photo: Cows in a meadow in Bridgeport, Calif. 

Photo: Jersey rooftop tomato farm in Queens County, N.Y. 
AGRICULTURE IN YOUR COMMUNITY
 

Nationwide, agriculture is such a large industry that our first thoughts may turn to 

the bountiful farm belt in the Midwest that serves as a breadbasket for the world. 

The United States has 900 million acres of farmland, which accounts for 37% of 

the nation’s land. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) tracks farms that 

produce and sell products with a market value more than $1,000 each year. The 

market value of products sold in 2017 from more than two million farms across 

the country was $388 billion. Agriculture is also a key part of local economies. For 

example, New York and New Jersey have over 43,000 farms, and the market value 

of products sold in 2017 was $6.5 billion. Agriculture is present in rural areas, the 

suburbs, and even in cities with small urban farms and community gardens. 

The local agricultural sector is very diverse. The fish you grilled or raw oysters 

you ate last night could have come from a local aquaculture farmer. Agriculture 

also goes beyond the food we eat: when we play golf on lush turf grasses or 

landscape around our homes with new shrubs, we can thank a local farmer who 

grows these plants. 

Agriculture is a significant part of state and local economies, and the industry 

represents an important partner for bolstering community resilience. By protecting 

farms and the services vital to their operation, we are also protecting the local 

economy and the food supplies we all need. Additionally, in protecting agriculture, 

we help provide for our community’s most vulnerable. Many low-income families 

and seniors are unable to store a three-day supply of food for emergencies. State, 

local, tribal and territorial officials can improve resiliency in their communities, as 

well as in the agriculture industry. 

DID YOU KNOW?
 

UNITED STATES 

Number of Farms 2 million 

Acres of Farmland 900 million 

Product Value $389 billion

• Crops $194 billion

• Livestock, Poultry, and their products $195 billion 

Source: USDA 2017 Census of Agriculture 

Photo: Farm fields in Jack ’s Reef, N.Y. 
Photo: Buffers along a river bank in Pennsylvania 

ENGAGING THE AGRICULTURE 

SECTOR IN MITIGATION DECISIONS 

To improve the resiliency of the local agricultural sector and to secure food supplies, 

communities should take actions before, during and after a disaster. Discussions 

with farmers, farm representatives and community garden stewards will identify 

possible mitigation opportunities. Supporting cooperative local garden programs 

promotes resiliency by enhancing a sense of community. Officials can begin working 

with the local agricultural community to address questions such as these: 

• Are crops spoiling in the aftermath of a disaster? If so, why? Did they spoil 

because the roads between farms and markets were closed? Was it due to a 

power grid failure that kept farmers from maintaining cold storage? Or was it 

because storage facilities, on or off the farm, could not withstand the event? 

• What effects might an earthquake have on farms that rely on well water? 

Are residents aware that even moderate earthquakes can render water wells 

inoperable? 

• To what degree are farms vulnerable to changes in development, erosion, dam 

controls, land management practices and nonpoint source pollution? 

• Are the potential effects of sea level rise well understood or anticipated? 

Which farms risk inundation? Will salt water modify the water table on which 

farmers rely? 

• What can be done to mitigate the impacts of climate change? Beyond sea level 

rise, how will the effects of more intense rain, increasing temperatures and 

drought affect farms? 

• What vital services do farms depend on which need protecting? 

In addition to evaluating how hazards could affect local agriculture, emergency 

managers and community planners should consider that agricultural practices 

can inform hazard mitigation actions. For example, farming practices can play 

an important role in reducing flood risk. According to the Union of Concerned 

Scientists, when farmers engage in no-till planting and keep the soil continuously 

covered with living plants (through cover crops or perennial crops like alfalfa), 

water runoff from extreme weather events has been reduced by 20%. This protects 

downstream properties, as well as the farms. It also replenishes the natural water 

table and reduces erosion. 

Another approach to reducing runoff is to ensure farms continue to be used only for 

agriculture. Farmland preservation programs, for example, pay landowners to place 

deed restrictions on their land to prevent future development that could increase 

stormwater runoff. Many private land trusts and state and federal programs are 

dedicated to farmland preservation, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 

Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS). 

Vegetative buffers are another useful and low-cost mitigation tool. They protect the 

streams they border and there are federal funds to share the cost of creating buffers. 

While FEMA’s hazard mitigation grant programs focus on public infrastructure, the 

NRCS provides financial assistance for landowners to offset the costs of projects to 

improve private properties. Through the mitigation planning process, these potentially 

complementary funding sources may be used together. 

DID YOU KNOW? 

The Secretary of U.S. Department of Agriculture is authorized 

to designate counties as disaster areas and to make 

emergency loans available to producers suffering losses. 

Eligible natural disasters must have substantially affected 

farms which caused severe production losses. This 

designation is different from, but often occurs alongside, the 

Presidential Disaster Declarations administered by FEMA. 

USDA Disaster 

Declarations 

Between 2012 

and 2020, there 

were 1,609 USDA 

Secretarial disaster 

designations 

requested across 

the United States. 
 

Photo: Green soybean fields in Missouri 

AGRICULTURE REPRESENTATIVES 

Which organizations might be invited to engage in the planning process? The 

answer will vary from county to county and state to state, but these organizations 

should be considered: 

• Cooperative Extensions 

• Local Farm Bureaus 

• County Soil and Water Conservation Districts 

• County Boards of Agriculture 

• County Agriculture Development Boards 

• State Departments of Agriculture 

• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services 

• USDA Rural Development 

• Academic Institutions 

In addition, the Extension Disaster Education Network links disaster research 

and resources from agriculture educators working across the country. State and 

territory institutions within the network also offer locally relevant resources and 

connections that may be useful during the planning process. 

RELATIONSHIPS GO BEYOND MITIGATION PLANNING 

Involve organizations that represent the agriculture sector in mitigation planning. 

This leads to benefits in other areas of emergency management. In some cases, 

these relationships already exist through emergency preparedness planning: 

• Farms store chemicals on site. Actions to protect these stored chemicals from 

damage during a natural hazard are mitigation actions. Additionally, some first 

responders meet annually with farmers to update their records on what is 

contained and where. 

• Plans for managing the movement and storage of farm animals before a disaster 

continue to be used. They may be relevant to inform or incorporate into a hazard 

mitigation plan. 

• In Iowa, for example, the state partnered with rural electric cooperatives to repair 

infrastructure damaged in a major ice storm that left many farms without electricity 

for an extended time. The state’s hazard mitigation plan now includes an annex 

for the cooperatives, which has helped them to collaborate and identify mitigation 

projects that improve electrical service to farms. 
 

 

 

RESOURCES 

Guides to Expanding Mitigation 

https://www.fema.gov/mitigation-risk-reduction 

Link to all available Guides to Expanding Mitigation. 

FEMA Hazard Mitigation Planning 

https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/risk-management/hazardmitigation-planning 

Review standards and guidance for the planning process. 

USDA Disaster Resource Center 

https://www.usda.gov/topics/disaster 

Find information about USDA and other assistance to recover 

from disasters and build resilience. 

Extension Disaster Education Network 

https://extensiondisaster.net/ 

Find disaster-specific courses, exercises, and resources from educators 

in Extension programs. 

Funding Opportunities 

https://toolkit.climate.gov/content/funding-opportunities 

Learn about a range of government and private financing for climate 

adaptation and resilience projects. 

Fourth National Climate Assessment 

https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/chapter/10/ 

Learn how climate change affects agricultural productivity, the health 

of people and ecosystems, and the vulnerability of rural communities. 

Photo: Picking fresh strawberries in Raleigh, N.C. 

REFERENCES 

Penn State Cooperative Extension. 2010. Ready AG©: Disaster and Defense 

Preparedness for Production Agriculture. The Pennsylvania State University. 

https://extension.psu.edu/readyag-workbook 

Rutgers Climate Institute. 2016. Climate Change and Agriculture, Including Aquaculture 

and Fisheries, in New Jersey. Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. 

https://climatechange.rutgers.edu/docman-list/affiliate-publications/449-ag-andclimate-document-final-1/file 

Union of Concerned Scientists. 2017. “Turning Soils into Sponges: How Farmers Can 

Fight Floods and Droughts.” https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/turning-soils-sponges 

USDA. 2017. Census of Agriculture, U.S. Summary and State Data. 

https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/index.php 

USDA. 2019. Disaster Designation Information. https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programsand-services/disaster-assistance-program/disaster-designation-information/index 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

We thank the following organizations, whose staff contributed their time toward 

advancing our understanding of mitigation and agriculture: New Jersey Department 

of Agriculture; FEMA Region 2; FEMA Region 7; University of Pennsylvania; Rutgers 

Climate Institute; USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; New Jersey Farm 

Bureau; and Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Ocean County, Atlantic County, and 

Monmouth County. 

ENGAGE WITH US 

Are you a state, local, tribal or territorial official interested in making 

the connection between agriculture and hazard mitigation? Are you a 

representative from an agricultural organization or cooperative interested 

in connecting with local officials to reduce risk from hazards? Please 

contact us at FEMA-ExpandingMitigation@fema.dhs.gov.