Farmer Resources: Disaster Response & Recovery
In the days and weeks following Hurricane Lala, SHAC has been in contact with our member organizations and many individual farmers to provide information on available resources specifically for farm recovery after a natural disaster. We are sharing this information here so a wider audience can easily access them. Additionally, we are providing suggested immediate steps you can take on your farm after a natural disaster hits.
»Document Everything
Document everything after a disaster:
Damaged crops and equipment before you begin clean-up and repair efforts
Document and estimate fallen crop fruit, branches, and blossoms, depending on the life stage of your crop when the hurricane hit.
What life stage were your plants in when they were damaged or destroyed? What is your estimated future crop loss over the next 3 to 5 years?*
Damaged areas across your farm (homes, farm buildings, fences, irrigation, sheds, all farm infrastructure, etc.)
Damaged waterways and roads on your farm
Hours worked and paid for clean-up and repair efforts—this includes your hours worked, too
Keep receipts for all emergency purchases
*This impacts the estimated value assigned to your crops, depending on the lost future output/profitability of the crop.
»Report Agricultural Disaster Impact
One of SHAC’s collaborators, Agriculture Stewardship Hawaiʻi, is maintaining the Disaster Response Dashboard they created in response to the 2026 Kona Low storms that impacted all Hawaiian Islands. Please use this tool to report farm and/or crop impacts and to access updates on available relief programs, and other grants specific to farmers. Your responses may support eligibility for federal and state assistance for disaster relief. The data shared here is aggregated and anonymized—none of your personal information is accessible or shared publicly.
As a producer who is part of a SHAC member organization, please select "SHAC" as your Organization Affiliation when reporting disaster impacts to your farm. This will help us assist you directly.
»Contact Relevant Agencies
File a claim with your crop insurance right away. You will need to share much of the information above with them.
Contact your local USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) office as soon as possible.
Find out what existing programs you qualify for
FSA will lead you through the available information and resources
Gather all your FSA documents to have them ready for filing and applying for any available disaster response programs
»Tip for Hawaii County only: Scan the QR code or follow the link to fill out this FSA form to be automatically added to Hawaii County’s FSA office’s list for all programs as they become available. This includes ECP, ELAP, and more. Farmers in all other counties must still call their local FSA office.
»FSA Tree Assistance Program
For coffee and macadamia nut producers: you are eligible for the FSA TAP.
Please check the above linked fact sheet and FSA’s TAP webpage, but here is the gist:
USDA will cover 65% of the cost to rehabilitate or replant coffee and/or macadamia nut orchards that lose trees to either disease or storms. This is in addition to other Emergency Conservation Programs.
Producers are exempt from the $900,000 average AGI cap for TAP if at least 75% of their average gross income is from farming, ranching, or silviculture, including agri-tourism, direct-to-consumer sales, and certain equipment sales.
The original minimum loss requirement of 15% of a field has been removed. NO minimum loss is required.
Applications must be submitted within 90 calendar days of the disaster event or when the loss is apparent.
Please refer to the resources linked above for more details and information. Please contact your local FSA office to apply for this program.
We will continue to add to this page as disaster response to Hurricane Lala develops and more agriculture relief programs become available. Please reach out to us through our contact page if you have a specific question.