AMERICAN farmers, ranchers and rural communities will receive more than $340 million in aid following natural disasters across the country.

US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the $340.6 million in U.S. Department of Agriculture disaster assistance today.

Secretary Rollins said his heart goes out to the families who have lost loved ones, homes, businesses and livelihoods in the disasters.

“As one of his first executive actions, President Trump made it a top priority for his administration to deliver fast and fair relief to communities impacted by disasters.

USDA is fulfilling the President’s promise today and ensuring we are doing everything we can to support state and local efforts to rebuild these communities to be even stronger than before.”

Secretary Rollins made the announcement today in North Dakota where USDA is delivering more than $5 million to help rebuild electric infrastructure following damage from severe storms and wildfires.

USDA will also deliver $25 million in relief to North Carolina communities and $18 million to Tennessee communities impacted by hurricanes since 2022 including hurricanes Fiona, Ian, Idalia, Helene, and more. As part of this funding, USDA will use:

$5.8 million to support economic development for enterprises and farm producers.

$15.6 million to help rural communities rebuild key infrastructure after disasters.

$20 million for safe drinking water, sanitary waste disposal, and electric infrastructure restoration.

$2 million for technical assistance to towns seeking aid.

The Trump Administration said it is making key improvements to the fund, cutting bureaucratic inefficiencies that will enable USDA to put Americans first by:

Deploying critical aid as quickly as possible;

Ensuring funds are more responsibly and effectively managed than ever before;

Responding immediately to a backlog of requests from communities that have sought disaster assistance in recent years; and

Waiving limiting eligibility criteria such as income requirements, population limits and more.

The USDA Disaster Assistance Fund will provide relief directly to rural families, farmers and small business owners, helping them recover, restore and rebuild to be stronger than before. The fund will be used to repair homes, businesses, infrastructure and critical services in communities hit hardest by disaster.