Agriculture Crops Disaster Relief.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 2
HOUSE BILL 130
Committee Substitute Favorable 2/26/25

Short Title: Agriculture Crops Disaster Relief. (Public)
Sponsors:
Referred to:
February 18, 2025
*H130-v-2*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO ESTABLISH AND FUND AN AGRICULT URAL DISASTER CROP L OSS 2
PROGRAM. 3
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 4
5
PART I. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS 6
SECTION 1.1. The North Carolina General Assembly makes the following findings 7
for agriculture in 2024: 8
(1) Agriculture and agribusiness in North Carolina constituted an economic 9
impact of one hundred eleven billion one hundred million dollars 10
($111,100,000,000), posting an eight billion dollar ($8,000,000,000) increase 11
from the previous year. 12
(2) North Carolina is one of the nation's top producers of a diversity of agriculture 13
commodities, including sweet potatoes, tobacco, eggs, cucumbers, Christmas 14
trees, trout, peanuts, broilers, and cotton. 15
(3) North Carolina suffered continual damage to agricultural crops and 16
commodities from natural disasters that impacted every portion of the State, 17
including drought, excessive rainfall, and tropical storms. 18
(4) Every county in the State was included in one or more secretarial disaster 19
declarations by the United States Department of Agriculture based on a 20
finding of significant production losses for agriculture. 21
22
PART II. TRANSFERS AND APPROPRIATIONS 23
SECTION 2.1.(a) Transfer. – The State Controller shall transfer the following 24
amounts from the following sources to the State Emergency Response and Disaster Relief Fund: 25
(1) Two hundred million dollars ($200,000,000) from the Stabilization and 26
Inflation Reserve. 27
(2) Two hundred mill ion dollars ($200,000,000) from the Information 28
Technology Reserve. 29
(3) Seventy-five million dollars ($75,000,000) from the Economic Development 30
Project Reserve. 31
SECTION 2.1.(b) Appropriation. – The State Controller shall transfer from the State 32
Emergency Response and Disaster Relief Fund to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer 33
Services (Department) the sum of four hundred seventy-five million dollars ($475,000,000). The 34
funds transferred in this subsection are appropriated to the Department for the 2024 Agricultural 35
Disaster Crop Loss Program as established in Part III of this act. These funds and remaining 36
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 130-Second Edition
funds from Section 5.9A(c)(2) of S.L. 2021-180 and Section 5.4(a)(4)a. of S.L. 2022-74 shall be 1
used to assist farmers in counties designated by the United States Department of Agriculture as 2
agricultural disasters that occurred during 2024 in this State. 3
4
PART III. 2024 AGRICULTURAL DISASTER CROP LOSS PROGRAM 5
SECTION 3.1.(a) Agricultural Disaster Crop Loss Program. – The 2024 6
Agricultural Disaster Crop Loss Program is established within the Department of Agriculture and 7
Consumer Services. The Program shall be used to provide financial assistance to farmers with 8
verified losses from an agricultural disaster in this State in 2024. The Department may use up to 9
one percent (1%) of funds allocated for the Program for administrative purposes. To be eligible 10
for financial assistance for losses of agricultural commodities, a person must satisfy all of the 11
following criteria: 12
(1) The person experienced a ve rifiable loss of agricultural commodities as a 13
result of an agricultural disaster in 2024, and the person's farm is located in an 14
affected area for the respective agricultural disaster. 15
(2) The agricultural commodity was planted but not harvested on or bef ore the 16
eligibility date, or, for aquaculture commodities, the commodities were being 17
raised on or before the eligibility date. For purposes of this subsection, the 18
term "eligibility date" refers to the date of the disaster set forth in the 19
Secretarial declaration for the county in which the agricultural or aquaculture 20
commodities are located and for which verifiable losses are claimed. 21
SECTION 3.1.(b) Verification of Loss. – A person seeking financial assistance for 22
losses of agricultural commodities under the Program shall submit to the Department a Form 578 23
on file with the USDA Farm Service Agency or a form provided by the Department for reporting 24
acreage or plantings of crops or loss that is not typically reported on Form 578, along with any 25
other documentation deemed appropriate by the Department, no later than 45 days after this 26
section becomes effective. For nursery crops, fruit-bearing trees and bushes, and specialty crops 27
where the survival level is not immediately known, the Department may extend this deadline by 28
an additional 45 days, upon written request by the person received no later than 45 days after this 29
section becomes effective and upon approval by the Department. A person receiving assistance 30
under this Program must provide a signed affidavit, under penalty of perjury, certifying that each 31
fact of the loss presented by the person is accurate. 32
SECTION 3.1.(c) Criteria. – The Department shall administer the financial 33
assistance program authorized by this section in accordance with the following criteria: 34
(1) In determining the payment calculation for agricultural commodities, the 35
Department shall use a formula based on acreage, county loss estimates, 36
USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service averages, and any other 37
measure the Department deems appropriate. Funds shall be distributed based 38
on county averages for yields and State averages for price. Calculations shall 39
be based on county or State averages in price, whichever the Department 40
determines is appropriate. 41
(2) The Department shall gather all claim information, except from those 42
applicants granted a deadline extension, no later than 45 days after this section 43
becomes law. The Department shall, as closely as possible, estimate the 44
amount of the funds needed to be held in reserve for payments related to losses 45
of nursery, bush, tree, and specialty crops for which losses will not be fully 46
known or calculated. The Department shall set aside funds as it deems 47
appropriate based on the estimated percentage of these losses. 48
(3) Payments made under this Program shall be made to the person who filed the 49
Form 578 or Department form for claims related to agricultural commodity 50
losses. 51
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
House Bill 130-Second Edition Page 3
SECTION 3.1.(d) Audit; Documentation. – The Department may audit the financial 1
and other records of each recipien t of funds in order to ensure that the funds are used in 2
accordance with the requirements of this Program. The Department may require any 3
documentation or proof it considers necessary to efficiently administer this Program, including 4
the ownership structure of each entity and the social security numbers of each owner. In order to 5
verify losses, the Department may require the submission of dated, signed, and continuous 6
records. These records may include, but are not limited to, commercial receipts, settlement sheets, 7
warehouse ledger sheets, pick records, load summaries, contemporaneous measurements, truck 8
scale tickets, contemporaneous diaries, appraisals, ledgers of income, income statements of 9
deposit slips, cash register tape, invoices for custom harvesti ng, u-pick records, and insurance 10
documents. 11
SECTION 3.1.(e) Expenditure of Awarded Funds. – Awarded funds shall be used 12
for agricultural production expenses and recovery of losses due to the impacts of the agricultural 13
disaster. The Department shall deve lop guidelines and procedures to ensure that funds are 14
expended for the purposes allowed by this section and may require any documentation it 15
determines necessary to verify the appropriate use of financial assistance awards, including 16
receipts. All distributed funds are subject to federal and State income tax. 17
SECTION 3.1.(f) Refund of Award. – If a person receives financial assistance under 18
this program for which the person is ineligible, or if the amount of the financial assistance 19
received is based on inaccurate information, the person forfeits the assistance awarded under this 20
section and is liable for the amounts received. Assistance forfeited under this section shall bear 21
interest at the rate determined in accordance with G.S. 105-241.21 as of the date of receipt until 22
repaid. Financial assistance forfeited but not paid shall be collected by a civil action in the name 23
of the State, and the recipient shall pay the cost of the action. The Attorney General, at the request 24
of the Commissioner of Agriculture, shall institute the action in the proper court for the collection 25
of the award forfeited, including interest thereon. 26
SECTION 3.1.(g) Definitions. – For purposes of this section, the following 27
definitions apply: 28
(1) Agricultural commodity. – Any crop, flowering plant, aquaculture species, 29
fruit, grain, native grass, ornamental plant, sod, specialty crop, tree, or 30
vegetable. An agricultural commodity does not include stored grain. 31
(2) Agricultural disaster. – A secretarial disaster designation declared b y the 32
United States Department of Agriculture Secretary for qualifying counties in 33
this State. 34
(3) Department. – The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. 35
(4) Person. – Any individual, trust, estate, partnership, receiver, association, 36
company, limited liability company, corporation, or other entity or group. 37
(5) Program. – The 2024 Agricultural Disaster Crop Loss Program. 38
SECTION 3.1.(h) Program Reporting Requirement. – The Department shall submit 39
a report to the Fiscal Research Division no later than the first day of the month six months after 40
this section becomes effective, and every six months thereafter until all funds are expended or 41
the Program expires, containing, at a minimum, all of the following data: 42
(1) The number of applicants by agricultural commodity and the county in which 43
the person incurred the verified loss. 44
(2) The number and amount of grants awarded by agricultural commodity. 45
(3) The geographic distribution of the grants awarded. 46
(4) The total amount of funding available to t he Program, the total amount 47
encumbered, and the total amount disbursed to date. 48
(5) Any refunds made to the Program pursuant to subsection (f) of this section. 49
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 4 House Bill 130-Second Edition
SECTION 3.1.(i) Expiration and Reversion. – The Program shall expire 30 months 1
after this sect ion becomes effective. Any funds allocated to the Program not expended or 2
encumbered by that date shall revert to the State Emergency Response and Disaster Relief Fund. 3
4
PART IV. EFFECTIVE DATE 5
SECTION 4.1. This act is effective when it becomes law. 6