NEWS: Sen. Schiff Urges USDA to Deliver Disaster Relief for Farmers in California

Washington, D.C.– U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)urgedU.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Rollins to ensure the agency delivers disaster assistance from theAmerican Relief Act of 2025to California farmers. In the letter, the Senator emphasized the importance of ensuring disaster assistance is fairly distributed amongst states, including for California agricultural communities, to get the help they need to recover from natural disasters.
“The natural disasters that California faced in 2023 and 2024 significantly impacted crop yields, damaged infrastructure, and contributed to the spread of pests. Disaster assistance for California producers would provide direct financial relief to farmers and facilitate the replacement of infrastructure and equipment, ultimately ensuring the continued production of crops to support the domestic food supply,”the Senator wrote.
Secretary Rollins and USDA leadership previouslymadeverbal and written commitments that they will work to fairly distribute USDA federal assistance. In this letter, the Senator is specifically urging the USDA to:
Read the full letterhereand below.
Dearest Secretary Rollins,
Thank you for your commitment to delivering disaster relief for farmers.
The natural disasters that California faced in 2023 and 2024 significantly impacted crop yields, damaged infrastructure, and contributed to the spread of pests. Disaster assistance for California producers would provide direct financial relief to farmers and facilitate the replacement of infrastructure and equipment, ultimately ensuring the continued production of crops to support the domestic food supply. At hearings and in response to Questions for the Record, you (and many USDA colleagues) made commitments to ensuring that “any future USDA financial assistance programs are appropriately distributed.” As such, I request your continued commitment to fair distribution of disaster relief and request the following information regarding USDA’s implementation of assistance authorized by the American Relief Act of 2025.
I am sincerely grateful for the commitments you have made to working with me and impacted stakeholders from California to see that USDA programs are equitably distributed, regardless of geography and product. I would greatly appreciate a timely response to this letter no later than August 1, 2025. I very much look forward to working with you on these issues and am open to further discussing solutions that work for all states. Thank you.
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