Ag Policy Blog

USDA on Thursday announced $1 billion in disaster aid to livestock producers under the Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) to cover grazing losses from drought and wildfires in 2023 and 2024.

USDA's Farm Service Agency plans to use existing data from the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) to create calculations and provide quicker payments to producers. ELRP payments will be automatically issued to producers who already have an approved LFP application on file for 2023 and/or 2024. These producers do not need to contact USDA to receive their payments.

Producers who faced grazing losses in 2023 and/or 2024 but did not sign up for the LFP should contact their local Farm Service Agency office to ask about how to enroll in the ELRP.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association thanked Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins for quickly issuing ELRP payments to producers.

"Cattlemen and cattlewomen across the country have faced heartbreaking losses from drought and wildfires. We are so grateful that Secretary Rollins understands the devastation caused by these natural disasters and is working to make cattle producers whole again," said NCBA President Buck Wehrbein, a Nebraska cattleman. "We appreciate USDA standing with farmers and ranchers, and being invested in their success."

USDA released a timeline earlier in May detailing how the Emergency Relief Program would work. For livestock producers who suffered losses due to flooding, the projected signup date will be Aug. 18. USDA stated the program for flooding losses "requires more time due to needed software changes."

For crop producers with indemnified losses, the target date for enrollment in the ERP is July 7. For crop producers who suffered shallow losses, quality losses or farmers who did not have crop insurance, USDA expects to release enrollment details by mid-September.

The overall $21 billion disaster package for producers was passed by Congress near the end of last year.

The act also authorized $10 billion in economic assistance to commodity producers, now known as the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program. According to the USDA website for ECAP, USDA has paid out $7.66 billion to 509,216 approved applications for the program. The states with the highest level of payments under ECAP are Iowa, Texas, Illinois, Kansas and North Dakota.

The deadline to file for ECAP payments is Aug. 15.

For more information, see https://www.usda.gov/…

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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