South Carolina Disaster Relief Block Grant (SDRBG)

Providing targeted assistance to South Carolina farmers and forest landowners who sustained specific losses and damage from Hurricane Helene in 2024, covering four categories of eligible losses: infrastructure damage, market losses, future economic losses, and timber losses.

The Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2025 (Division B of the American Relief Act, 2025 (the Act; P.L. 118-158)) provided financial assistance to agricultural producers for expenses related to losses of revenue, quality or production of crops (including milk, on-farm stored commodities, crops prevented from planting, and harvested adulterated wine grapes), trees, bushes, and vines impacted by hurricanes and a variety of natural disasters that occurred in 2023 and 2024. The Act further extends that the Secretary may provide assistance for such losses in the form of block grants to eligible States and territories and such assistance may include compensation to producers, as determined by the Secretary, for timber (including payments to non-Federal forest landowners), citrus, pecan, and poultry (including infrastructure) losses, and subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the first, second, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and 12th provisos under this heading in title I of the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022 (division B of Public Law 117- 43), as amended.

Payments to producers and landowners for approved claims under this block grant will be made after all applications have been received and reviewed.

An eligible producer is a producer located in an eligible locality that suffered an eligible loss as a direct result of Hurricane Helene and had an ownership share and a production risk in the crop, livestock, or timber (including timber rights). In addition, an eligible producer is a person or legal entity that must be a: 1. Citizen of the United States; 2. Resident alien; for purposes of this part, resident alien means “lawful alien” as defined in 7 CFR part 1400; 3. Partnership consisting solely of citizens or resident aliens of the United States; 4. Corporation, limited liability corporation, or other farm organizational structure organized under State law consisting solely of citizens or resident aliens of the United States; or 5. Indian Tribe or Tribal organization, as defined in section 4(b) of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). Eligible Counties are: Abbeville, Aiken, Allendale, Anderson, Bamberg, Barnwell, Beaufort, Berkeley, Calhoun, Catawba Indian Nation, Cherokee, Chester, Colleton, Edgefield, Fairfield, Greenville, Greenwood, Hampton, Jasper, Kershaw, Lancaster, Laurens, Lexington, McCormick, Newberry, Oconee, Orangeburg, Pickens, Richland, Saluda, Spartanburg, Union, Williamsburg and York.

A step-by-step printable application guide and technical assistance video recordings are available at the link above.