June 19, 2026
The Northeast Climate Disaster Relief Network released When Disaster Becomes the Norm: Climate Risk and the Future of Northeast Agriculture, a new white paper documenting how climate disasters are threatening farms, food systems, and rural communities across the Northeast.
The Northeast Climate Disaster Relief Network is a coalition of agricultural service providers, advocates, and farmers working to ensure that farmers and workers in the Northeast are equitably and effectively resourced before, during, and after climate disasters. According to the report, the U.S. now averages 19 disasters costing more than one billion dollars each year, up from just three per year in the 1980s (Climate Central, 2025). In the Northeast, record floods, heatwaves and rainfall are causing mounting losses, while farmers lack reliable federal aid and timely state support to respond to these pressures; additionally, very few have access to crop insurance.
The white paper highlights how climate disasters are creating compounding impacts across the food system, including crop losses, land and labor loss, supply chain disruption, and an ongoing farmer mental health crisis. It also documents significant gaps in federal disaster assistance and crop insurance programs.
Among the report’s findings:
- According to the latest National Climate Assessment, the Northeast is already warmer and wetter than a century ago, with average temperatures over 2°F higher than in the early 1900s and a significant rise in extreme precipitation events, which are unusually heavy bursts of rain or snow (Cornell University Northeast Regional Climate Center, 2023).
- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) database, while authoritative for large-scale disasters, excludes regional floods, hailstorms and frosts that cause hundreds of millions in damage.
- From 2001 to 2022, total indemnity payments for the five primary weather-related causes (drought, excess rain, hail, heat and freeze) reached $118.7 billion nationwide.
- Climate disasters disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous and People of Color farmers, farmworkers and other historically underserved communities.
The report outlines a roadmap for building a stronger agricultural disaster response system, including establishing permanent state-level disaster relief funds, reducing barriers to assistance, investing in climate resilience, and ensuring that farmers and farmworkers are included in the process to shape the programs intended to support them.
For more information, please see the full report.