The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it is launching an $8 billion Harvest Fuel Relief Program that will offer farmers one-time payments to provide relief from increasing fuel and input costs. Proportional support will be provided to producers using a uniform formula to cover a portion of modeled losses from the 2026 crop year. The national loss average will be based on Farm Service Agency reported planted acres, Economic Research Service cost of production estimates and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates yields and prices.
Title I commodity-specific payment rates will be released in November with the payment methodology for specialty crops announced at a later date.
California avocado growers are encouraged to provide data related to their increased fuel costs to [email protected] as the data provided will be considered by USDA when determining specialty crop payment rates. Growers also are encouraged to create a Login.gov account, linked to USDA, in advance of the application period announcement. By doing so, growers will have access to pre-filled applications once the FSA filing period begins.