Farm Aid's Family Farm Disaster Fund

If you are a farmer dealing with disaster, please visit our Help for Farmers page.

The Family Farm Disaster Fund was established by Farm Aid to help farm families survive weather-related disasters. Right now, we are working with farmers across the country who have been hurt by devastating flooding and severe weather in Iowa, Wisconsin and seven other mid-western states.

Farm Aid is helping family farmers through this disaster by:

Providing emergency funds for families to allow them to buy food and cover family living expenses. Through churches and service agencies operating in the region, Farm Aid ensures that the money goes to farm families most in need.
Supporting emergency hotlines which provide legal, financial and emotional counseling to struggling farmers.
Providing legal and financial counseling to farmers in danger of losing their farms. When farmers need help to avoid foreclosure due to losses from natural disasters, Farm Aid funded groups are there to help them save their farm.

Through workshops and public meetings, Farm Aid-funded groups educate farmers about available disaster assistance in each state. Donations to the Family Farm Disaster Fund will help Farm Aid directly address the needs of farms in crisis. Please help Farm Aid help them.

Donate to the Family Farm Disaster Fund>>

Latest Responses

Midwestern flooding

July 2, 2008
We are hard at work planning distribution of emergency flood assistance funds to farmers in five states: Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri. We are working with support groups in each of those states, and soon will be announcing a second round of grants to farmers in distress.

June 20, 2008
Farm Aid emergency assistance is supporting local recovery efforts in Iowa and Wisconsin, delivering an initial $10,000 in disaster-relief funds to grassroots organizations. Since the Family Farm Disaster Fund was activated on Wednesday of this week, more than $40,000 has already been donated by individuals and organizations. As money is raised, Farm Aid’s focus is to quickly distribute money to affected areas, where it can best benefit farm families.

Farm Aid is supporting the disaster-relief efforts of the Iowa Grassroots Coalition, which includes Buy Fresh Buy Local Iowa, Center for Rural Affairs, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Iowa Farmers Union, Iowa Network for Community Agriculture, Iowa Organic Association, National Catholic Rural Life Conference, Practical Farmers of Iowa, Women Food and Agriculture Network, farmer and advocate Denise O’Brien, and Wendy Wasserman, editor of Edible Iowa River Valley. As more information is available about the impact of the flooding in states across the Midwest, Farm Aid will work with additional organizations to quickly get resources to family farmers in those states.

June 17, 2008
Devastating flooding in Iowa and Wisconsin and severe weather in seven other states is threatening the lives of family farmers. Farm Aid is preparing to provide significant help to the region. This morning our program department was on a call with farm groups in Iowa and neighboring states to create an action plan.