North Carolina HB 130: Agriculture Crops Disaster Relief.

Bill Text

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 AGRICULTURAL DISASTER CROP LOSS 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 million 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 verifiable 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 before 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 si