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Santa Barbara County Food Action Network — Flood Recovery Funding for the Food System

by Community Contributor • February 9, 2023 • Comments Off

Santa Barbara County Food Action Network

Flood Recovery Funding for the Food System

Courtesy photo.

Was your farm, ranch, fishery, or food business impacted by the January 2023 floods in Santa Barbara County? We have compiled a list of resources for financial support below to help ensure our local food system makes it through this crisis.

SBCFAN is also tracking and monitoring the impacts of natural disasters, such as the recent floods in our local food community, and would like to hear from you. Please complete our brief survey. This data will help support advocacy for more emergency relief and inform how we can best support you. Together, we can build a resilient food system.

USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA)

Farm Damages

Farmers and ranchers seeking assistance should call the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) office in Templeton (San Luis Obispo County) at 805-434-0396, or Santa Maria (Santa Barbara County) at 805-928-9269. Your county’s FSA office will ask for your name, mailing address, phone number, and email address. FSA staff will send the disaster application information and fact sheets with program information. Click here for additional information about USDA’s Disaster Relief Program.

Community Alliance with Family Farmers

2022/2023 Winter Storms Emergency Funding

CAFF’s emergency fund will directly support California family farmers to help ensure they make it through this crisis. This current round of funding is for small and family-scale farmers impacted by the winter storms of 2022/2023.

Who is eligible to apply? Family farmers who are actively working the land, derive a significant portion of their income from their own farm business and are involved in the day-to-day operations of the farm. Farmers whose operations make a minimum of $10,000 and a maximum of $400,000 in gross sales annually.

The deadline is approaching on February 15, 2023. Learn more and apply.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Apply for Disaster Assistance

Individuals living in Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo County who were impacted by January’s storms and flood waters should apply for FEMA assistance. You can apply in the following ways:

Online at DisasterAssistance.gov or disasterassistance.gov/es (Spanish)
Via smartphone at m.fema.gov; m.fema.gov/esp (Spanish)

Call the registration phone number at 1-800-621-3362; those who have a speech disability or hearing loss and use TTY, should call 1-800-462-7585 directly; for those who use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS), call 1-800-621-3362.

Disaster-related assistance may include:

Rental payments for temporary housing for those whose homes are unlivable;
Grants for home repairs and replacement of essential household items;
Unemployment payments for workers who temporarily lost jobs because of the disaster and do not qualify for state benefits (self-employed);
Low-interest loans to cover residential losses not fully compensated by insurance;
Crisis counseling for those traumatized by the disaster; or
Advisory assistance for legal veterans’ benefits and social security matters

United States Department of Agriculture

Emergency Relief Program

To help agricultural producers offset the impacts of natural disasters in 2020 and 2021, Congress included emergency relief funding in the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act. This law targets at least $750 million for livestock producers impacted by drought or wildfires. Funds will be distributed in two phases through the Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) and the Emergency Relief Program (ERP). Open until June 2, 2023. Learn more and apply.

Small Business Administration

Loans for Flood Recovery

The Small Business Administration provides low-interest disaster loans to help businesses and homeowners repair or replace disaster-damaged property, inventory, and supplies. Businesses of any size may borrow up to $2 million to repair/replace disaster property damage. Small businesses, small businesses engaged in aquaculture, and most private nonprofit organizations may also borrow to help meet disaster-caused working capital needs.

After registering with FEMA, businesses and homeowners that would like to apply for SBA loans can click here to learn more and apply.

Santa Barbara Foundation

Microbusiness COVID-19 Relief Grant Program

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SBCFAN connects, aligns, and activates food system changemakers to develop a robust local food economy, a healthy and just community, and a well-stewarded, resilient foodshed