The Agriculture and Aquaculture Producers Natural Disaster Recovery Loan Program is a revolving loan program to provide financial assistance to agriculture and aquaculture producers in Florida who have experienced damage or destruction from a declared emergency.

• Applicants must own a bona fide farm operation on land classified as agricultural pursuant to Section 193.461, F.S., or lease sovereign submerged land pursuant to Section 597.010, F.S.
• The farm or aquaculture facility must be located in a qualifying county.
• Applicants must have experienced damage or destruction due to a qualifying disaster.
• If an applicant is not the owner of the property, please have the property owner complete the <p class="pb-6"><strong>Authorized Representative Form</strong></p> [ 83.6 kB ] to submit when applying for a loan.
• Loan funds may only be used to restore, repair or replace essential physical property or remove vegetative debris from essential physical property, or restock aquaculture. 
• You must be at least 18 years old.
• Accepting funds pursuant to this loan program could render an applicant ineligible to receive financial assistance for recovery from other sources. An applicant must agree not to unlawfully duplicate financial assistance between this loan program and any other state or federal funding sources, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the United States Department of Agriculture.
  • Note: Applicants must disclose any recovery funds received from other sources when applying for this program. Applicants should review applicable eligibility restrictions on all funding requests to ensure compliance with state and federal requirements.
• You must complete all sections and upload all required documents for your application to be considered complete and proceed to the review and loan decision process.
• Applicants must understand that any changes that would alter an applicant’s answers or affect an applicant’s eligibility to participate in the program must be reported to FDACS immediately.

Note: As outlined in Florida Statute, an applicant may not receive more than one loan per application period, more than two loans within a 12-month period, based on the date of their first loan application, or more than five loans in any three-year period. For instance, if an applicant was approved for their first loan in January, and their second loan in July of the same year, they will be ineligible to be approved for an additional loan until January of the following year.

Eligible applicants can apply using our application portal. 

You can apply up to one year after the date of the declared emergency or until all available loan funds are exhausted, whichever occurs first.

Ten years.

FDACS shall defer payments for the first three years of the loan. After three years, FDACS shall reduce the principal balance annually through the end of the loan term such that the original principal balance is reduced by 30%. If the principal balance is repaid before the end of the 10th year, the applicant may not be required to pay more than 70% of the original principal balance. 

Loan funds may be used to restore, repair or replace essential physical property, remove vegetative debris from essential physical property, or restock aquaculture. A structure or building constructed using loan proceeds must comply with storm-hardening standards for nonresidential farm buildings as defined in Section 604.50(2), F.S.

The maximum amount an applicant may receive during the application period for a loan is $500,000.

Yes, applicants can return to their application to complete and submit.

A confirmation email will be automatically generated once an application has been successfully submitted.