BILL NUMBER: S8707
SPONSOR: HINCHEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to estab-
lishing farm security resiliency grant awards for farm employers who
have suffered eligible losses as a result of eligible weather conditions
or events
 
PURPOSE:
To support New York farmers facing financial losses caused by extreme
weather events.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one creates a new article 26-D of the agriculture and markets
law establishing farm security resiliency grant awards in new sections
440 through 445.
Section 440 defines terms including the program's eligible weather
conditions, eligible losses, and definition of farm employers.
Section 441 establishes the farm security resilience grants board, for
purposes of making recommendations to the commissioner of agriculture
regarding grant awards authorized by this article. This section further
lays out the structure of the board including membership terms and
appointment rules.
Section 442 establishes powers and duties of the board. This section
authorizes the board to review applications for grants under this
program and recommend to the commissioner, by majority vote, whether an
applicant should receive an award. This section permits the board to
recommend modifications of amounts requested by an applicant.
Section 443 describes the application process, including:
Subdivision 1 directs the commissioner to develop an application form
requiring information including descriptions and cost estimates of
eligible losses, documentation of other funds already sought or to be
sought such as insurance, and proof of farm income and expenses.
Subdivision 2 states that applications may be made at any time and are
to be processed in the order received, and that that applications shall
be accepted until all appropriated funding for a given year has been
awarded.
Subdivision 3 states that applications shall be made to the commission-
er, to be reviewed by the board as soon as possible once deemed adminis-
tratively complete.
Section 444 describes the awarding of grants, including:
Directing the commissioner to make timely determinations regarding
approval, disapproval, or modification of awards, within thirty calendar
days of receiving a recommendation from the board;
Permitting the commissioner to modify the amount of the award from the
amount requested by the applicant; and
Stating that awards under this section shall cover up to 50% of unin-
sured or otherwise uncovered eligible losses, to a maximum award of
$150,000 per applicant per year.
Section 445 requires annual reporting to the legislature and the gover-
nor on the amount of awards granted in a given calendar year.
Section 2 is the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Despite their critical role in our food supply and economy, farms are
some of the most precarious businesses on a day to day basis. Unlike
other producers, farmers have little to no control over their own pric-
es, and are regularly at the mercy of droughts, floods, and other
extreme weather events. For example in 2023, a late May deep freeze
destroyed thousands of acres of New York apple and grape crops.
Increasingly unstable weather from the climate crisis has worsened the
risk, with hurricanes and tropical storms recently causing flooding in
areas previously unaffected by this kind of weather. These weather
events can both cut into farmers' revenue from sales, and create new
costs for replacing equipment, buildings, and livestock.
For this reason, farmers have historically tried to participate in crop
insurance programs, which are federally subsidized supports intended to
mitigate adverse events such as extreme weather, insects, plant
diseases, or price shocks. Unfortunately there is a significant gap in
crop insurance. While most US farmland by acreage has some form of
insurance, this primarily reflects the scale of large midwestern farms.
According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, small and
medium farms typically do not have crop insurance because most policies
are designed for large, single-crop operations; agents typically do not
sell to small farms since tailored policies are not worth writing for
smaller premiums; and beginning farmers lack the production history
requirements. Under 30% of farms under 500 acres have crop insurance,
compared to 74% of those over 500. 1
New York is a major agricultural producer, but typically through small-
er, often multi-crop family farms. For example, according to 2022 USDA
data, only 9% of New York farms were over 500 acres compared to 35% in
Nebraska. 2 Because of the structure of our agricultural economy many
multi-crop, smaller, and family farms just 11% of New York farms have
crop insurance compared to over 50% in "big Ag" states like the Dakotas.
New York invests significant funding in addressing clifnate threats
through mitigation efforts and targeted agricultural research. However,
there is no direct State funding support to address the associated costs
borne by farmers. For example, in both 2024 and 2025, the Governor
requested federal disaster declarations in response to extreme winter
weather across dozens of upstate counties in order to unlock federal
emergency loans to cover livestock and equipment losses and barn and
building damage.
While efforts like this are helpful, it has become increasingly clear
that New York cannot rely on the federal government to provide emergency
assistance for agricultural losses. Nor, given our reliance on small,
family farms, has the crop insurance system proven sufficient. Therefore
this bill provides a model for State support, through claims determi-
nations by the Department of Agriculture and Markets on recommendation
of a board of farmers, to respond to the increasingly damaging and
destabilizing weather events that threaten our farmers.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
1 Uninsured: Federal Crop Insurance Program Leaves Most Farms Unpro-
tected - National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
2 2022 State and County Profiles 2022 Census of Agriculture USDA/NASS