The United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency (FSA) has announced the first round of disaster assistance authorized by the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act.
In late September, Congress authorized up to $10 billion in aid to crop and livestock producers impacted by adverse weather con ditions that occurred during the 2020 and 2021 calendar years. Details about disaster assistance and its deliverables to producers have been sparse, however, publication of the Federal Register notice announcing Phase 1 of the Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) on April 4, 2022, has provided good insight into how FSA is handling key aspects of the ELRP. The notice explains how FSA will apply pay limits, determine payment eligibility and what we anticipate as other common components of disaster assistance to row crop producers in the coming months.
The ELRP will utilize up to $750 million of the $10 billion set aside by Congress to provide payments to livestock producers who incurred increased supplemental feed costs as a result of forage losses caused by drought or wildfire in calendar year 2021. The program will utilize existing data submitted through the FSA Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) to calculate ELRP payments to eligible producers.
Payment Calculation
FSA has set the ELRP Phase 1 payment rate at $16.84 per animal unit for historically underserved farmers and ranchers and $14.03 per animal unit for all other producers. To stay within available funding, the payment rates were set at 90% of the gross 2021 LFP payment rate ($18.71) for historically underserved farmers and ranchers and 75% of that rate for all other producers.
For example, consider a historically underserved farmer or rancher who has 535 animal units. Based on the 2021 LFP payment rate of $18.71 multiplied by the total animal units, the producer’s estimated gross 2021 LFP payment would be $10,000. The ELRP payment percentage for a historically underserved farmer or rancher is set at 90% of the gross LFP, therefore the ELRP Phase 1 payment in this example is $9,000
By comparison, a non-historically underserved farmer or rancher that also has 535 animal units would have the same $10,000 estimated gross 2021 LFP payment amount — based on the 2021 LFP payment rate of $18.71 multiplied by the total animal units. The ELRP payment percentage for a non-historically underserved farmer or rancher is set at 75% of the gross LFP rate and therefore provides an ELRP Phase 1 payment of $7,500.
Program participants are subject to all eligibility requirements and payment limitations. For more detailed information on the program and additional information as it becomes available, please visit: https:// www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-andservices/emergency-relief/index