Here are some common questions about the 2021 Agricultural Drought Relief Program (ADRoP). If you have questions that are not addressed here or in the full application once it's available, email them to drought@state.mn.us. We will post all questions and answers on this page.
Application questions
Q. I asked for a mailed application form, but I haven’t received it yet – what should I do?
A. We suggest you contact your local Farm Service Agency (FSA) office or go to your local library to have them print the application for you. Remember that if you are mailing your completed application to us, it must be postmarked by July 6, and we must receive it by July 12 to be included in the first round of applications. If we receive it after July 12, it will only be considered if we do a second round of funding.
Q. How do I know my W9 was received by the MDA if I filled it out online?
A. After you click the FINISH button in DocuSign, your W9 is automatically sent to us. You should see a confirmation message on your screen saying it’s completed. You should also receive a confirmation email from DocuSign System (dse_na2@docusign.net); check your junk mail if you don't see it.
Q. What if there is a problem with my application?
A. We will notify you by phone or email about missing information or errors in your application or if your application is denied. You will have seven business days after you are notified or after the initial application period closes, whichever is later, to fix the problems. If the corrections are not made, your application will not be considered as received during the initial application period. Applicants who are denied may appeal the decision within seven days of notice of denial.
Eligibility questions
Q. What if I have more than $7,500 of expenses?
A. You can only receive a maximum payment of $7,500, even if you had more expenses. We recommend including more than $7,500 worth of expenses in your application in case you included any ineligible expenses.
Q. Is lost revenue eligible?
A. No, even if you lost revenue because of the drought, you may not claim it in your application. The legislative language is clear that only expenses you actually incurred are eligible.
Q. May I claim an expense even if I don’t have supporting documentation?
A. You may claim expenses without documentation if you are willing to attest that the expenses were actually incurred. This should be the exception rather than the standard practice.
Q. Why are only 25 miles reimbursed for hauling feed to livestock or livestock to feed?
A. The USDA's Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-raised Fish (ELAP) program can often pay for loaded miles over 25. Check with your local Farm Service Agency office for more details.
Q. Are corn and soybeans eligible for this program?
A. No, this drought relief funding is only for livestock and specialty crop farmers. Specialty crops are defined by the USDA Definition of Specialty Crop.
Q. Is extra water or electricity an eligible expense?
A. Yes, but the expense needs to be based on the change in quantity, not a change in the cost. A good way to document this would be to compare your 2020 bill to your 2021 bill; then use the difference in quantity to determine the extra cost.
Q. Is the owner’s personal labor eligible?
A. No. Only hired labor is eligible, and it must be additional hired labor due to the drought.
Q. What costs are never eligible?
A. These costs are not eligible:
- Construction or improvements outside of the State of Minnesota
- Meals/food for human consumption
- Donated or volunteer (in-kind) services and unpaid labor
- Donations and in-kind contributions, including property and services, made by the applicant (regardless of the recipient)
- Fines, penalties, and other settlement expenses resulting from failure of the applicant to comply with Federal, State, local, or Indian Tribal laws and regulations
- Parking or traffic violations
- Bad debts, late payment fees, finance charges, legal costs, or contingency funds
- Indirect costs (expenses of doing business that are not readily identified with the project)
- Fundraising: including financial campaigns, solicitation of gifts and bequests, and similar expenses incurred to raise capital or obtain contributions
- Taxes, except sales tax on goods and services
- Advertising, public relations, entertainment, and amusement costs
- Lobbyists, political contributions
Payment questions
Q. How will payments be pro-rated?
A. If there are not enough funds available to pay everyone the full amount they requested, we will pro-rate everyone’s payments based on their eligible expenses (up to $7,500). Here are some examples of how pro-ration will work:
|
Operator’s Total Eligible Expenses |
If we don’t need to pro-rate |
If we must reduce everyone’s payment by 50% |
If we must reduce everyone’s payment by 75% |
|
$2,000 |
$2,000 |
$1,000 |
$500 |
|
$7,500 |
$7,500 |
$3,750 |
$1,875 |
|
$20,000 |
$7,500 |
$3,750 |
$1,875 |
Q. Why do I have to retain my documents?
A. State law (16B.98 Subd. 8) requires that you maintain all your records for a minimum of six years and make them available to the State (MDA), State Auditor, or Legislative Auditor if requested.
Q. Is this money taxable?
A. Yes, all payments made through this program are taxable income. You should consult with a tax professional if you have any questions specific to your situation.
Q. When and how will I get paid?
A. We will process applications as quickly as possible. After the application period closes, the timeline for payments will depend on how many applications are received and how quickly we are able to resolve errors or missing information issues.
If there is enough funding to continue accepting applications after the initial application period, those payments will be made after all applications from the initial application period are processed.
You will receive a paper check from Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) unless you sign up to receive your payment through direct deposit. To receive your payment electronically, complete the Direct Deposit Authorization for Electronic Funds Transfer using DocuSign. We are not able to assist with this process.
More information
More information about the program is available on the program’s webpage or by contacting the ADRoP Team (drought@state.mn.us) or calling the Grants Line at 651-201-6500.
Macluumaad dheeraad ah oo ku saabsan barnaamijka ayaa laga heli karaa bogga internetka ee barnaamijka ama iyada oo lala xiriirayo Kooxda ADRoP (drought@state.mn.us) ama iyada oo laga soo wacayo Khadka Deeqaha 651-201-6500.
ဆူညါတၢ်ဂ့ၢ်တၢ်ကျိၤဘၣ်ဃးတၢ်ရဲၣ်တၢ်ကျဲၤအံၤ တၢ်ဒိးန့ၢ်အီၤသ့ဖဲ တၢ်ရဲၣ်တၢ်ကျဲၤပှာ်ယဲၤသန့အလိၤ မ့တမ့ၢ် ခီဖျိတၢ်ဆဲးကျိး ADRoP ကရူၢ် (drought@state.mn.us) မ့တမ့ၢ် ကိးစ့တိာ်ပာ်လီတဲစိကျိၤ ဖဲ 651-201-6500 သ့ဝဲန့ၣ်လီၤ.
Puede obtener más información sobre el programa en la página web del programa, o escribiendo al equipo del ADRoP (drought@state.mn.us) o llamando a la Línea de Subsidios al 651-201-6500.
Kom paub ntau dua txog qhov kev pab no yeej muaj nyob rau hauv qhov program lub vas sab los yog tiv tauj rau pawg neeg ADRoP team ntawm (drought@state.mn.us) los yog hu rau tus xov tooj pab pob nyiaj ntawm tus xov tooj Grants Line 651-201-6500.
