Rural Energy for America Program

The program provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for renewable energy systems or to make energy efficiency improvements. Agricultural producers may also apply for new energy efficient equipment and new system loans for agricultural production and processing.

How may the funds be used?

• High efficiency heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems (HVAC).
• Insulation.
• Lighting.
• Cooling or refrigeration units.
• Doors and windows.
• Electric, solar or gravity pumps for sprinkler pivots.
• Switching from a diesel to electric irrigation motor.
• Replacement of energy-inefficient equipment.

What funding is available?



• Loan guarantees on loans up to 75 percent of total eligible project costs.
• Grants for up to 50 percent of total eligible project costs.
• Combined grant and loan guarantee funding up to 75% of total eligible project costs.

DeVries Scholarship

Each year the Washington Farm Bureau offers up to five (5) $2,000 scholarships as part of the Ray DeVries Memorial Scholarship program. Completed student applications are due to the Washington Farm Bureau office by June 30, 2023.

Energy Improvements Grant

ERA program seeks to improve the resilience, reliability, and affordability of energy systems in communities across the country with 10,000 or fewer people. The ERA program will leverage DOE’s expertise and experience in resilient energy solutions to modernize electric generation facilities, address disproportionately high electricity costs, and support new economic opportunities in rural and remote communities.

• Replacement of fossil fuel-powered heating with heat pumps in community buildings or in a residential neighborhood.
• Deployment of small hydropower in existing conduits to generate recurring revenue that enables reinvestment in other community infrastructure.
• Innovative siting of solar panels, such as over canals or on agricultural land, to reduce local siting constraints and enable new ownership structures.
• Use of biogas from agricultural waste, either from biogas capturing or biogas generation through anaerobic digestion, to fuel onsite equipment and/or for pipeline injection.

Emergency Relief Program | Phase 2

ERP Phase 2 is a tax year-based certification program that provides assistance for producers who suffered a loss in revenue due to necessary expenses associated with losses of eligible crops (excluding crops intended for grazing), due in whole or in part, to a qualifying disaster event that occurred in the 2020 or 2021 calendar year.

Who is Eligible?

ERP covers losses to crops, trees, bushes and vines due to a qualifying natural disaster event in calendar years 2020 and 2021. Eligible crops include all crops for which federal crop insurance or NAP coverage was available except for crops intended for grazing. Qualifying natural disaster events include wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, excessive heat, winter storms, freeze (including a polar vortex), smoke exposure, excessive moisture, qualifying drought, and related conditions.

Pandemic Assistance Revenue Program

The Pandemic Assistance Revenue Program (PARP) will assist eligible producers of agricultural commodities who experienced revenue decreases in calendar year 2020 compared to 2018 or 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. PARP will help address gaps in previous pandemic assistance, which was targeted at price loss or lack of market access, rather than overall revenue losses. 

How PARP Payments are Made...

PARP payments will be made on a whole-farm basis, not commodity-by-commodity. To be eligible for PARP, an agricultural producer must have been in the business of farming during at least part of the 2020 calendar year and must have experienced a 15 percent decrease in allowable gross revenue in 2020, as compared to either:

• The 2018 or 2019 calendar year, as elected by the producer, if they received allowable gross revenue during the 2018 or 2019 calendar years, or
• The producer’s expected 2020 calendar year allowable gross revenue, if the producer had no allowable gross revenue in 2018 or 2019.

Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program

ODMAP was created to assist certified organic dairy producers facing a unique set of challenges in recent years, including higher costs attributed to the pandemic and drought conditions across the country. USDA will invest $104 million in financial assistance to certified organic dairy producers.

How ODMAP Works ..

FSA is providing financial assistance for a producer’s projected marketing costs in 2023 based on 2022 costs. ODMAP provides a one-time cost-share payment, based on marketing costs, on pounds of organic milk marketed in the 2022 calendar year. 

The financial assistance from ODMAP provides immediate support to certified organic dairy operations during 2023 keeping organic dairy operations sustainable until the markets return to more normal conditions.