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FARGO 鈥� U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on Tuesday, April 22, announced that $340.6 million in U.S. Department of Agriculture disaster assistance will soon be released to deliver relief to farmers, ranchers and rural communities impacted by natural disasters that have caused devastation across the country.

The announcement came as Rollins was touring the North Dakota State University Peltier Complex alongside North Dakota dignitaries and agriculture industry leaders.

Rollins announced that among that funding, North Dakota is set to receive more than $5 million to help rebuild electric infrastructure following damage from that occurred in October 2024.

A large portion of the funding includes relief for North Carolina and Tennessee, both impacted by hurricanes since 2022. A full list of projects set to receive relief was not released.

鈥淢y heart goes out to the families across our great country who have lost loved ones, homes, businesses and livelihoods,鈥� Rollins said in a news release. 鈥淎s one of his first executive actions, President Trump made it a top priority for his administration to deliver fast and fair relief to communities impacted by disasters. USDA is fulfilling the President鈥檚 promise today and ensuring we are doing everything we can to support state and local efforts to rebuild these communities to be even stronger than before.鈥�

The announcement also comes with changes to the fund that are said to ensure funds are responsibly managed and eligibility criteria such as income requirements and population limits are waived.

FEMA announced the federal disaster assistance was available for North Dakota after approval from President Joe Biden on Dec. 26, 2024. Rollins said the release of the funds was expedited in January by President Donald Trump's administration.

Rollins mentioned another announcement made last week, imposing tariffs on sugar coming into the country. She wanted to emphasize its importance as she was visiting a major sugarbeet region.

" 'Cause we all know President Trump loves to deploy tariffs 鈥� sugarbeet tariffs coming into our country to protect our farmers up here that are facing specific and foreign trade barriers," she said.

Imported products that contain more than 65% sugar will face an additional up to 33% cost in tariffs through Sept. 30, she added.