The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is distributing about $1 billion in emergency relief payments to livestock producers impacted by qualifying floods or wildfires in 2023 and 2024. The program, known as the Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP), aims to help offset increased supplemental feed costs for those affected.
To receive ELRP payments, livestock producers must have eligible livestock and meet criteria related to a “qualifying disaster event.” The FSA has created a list of approved counties that experienced significant flood or wildfire damage during the specified years. Producers in these counties do not need to submit supporting documentation regarding the disasters.
A dashboard listing approved counties is available for review. For those in counties not included on the approved list, producers may still apply but must provide evidence such as photographs, insurance documents, emergency declarations, news articles, records from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration storm event database, other FSA disaster program participation records, or any other documentation deemed acceptable by the FSA county committee.
Applications will be reviewed by local FSA county committees to determine if disaster events meet program requirements. More information about eligibility and application processes can be found at https://tinyurl.com/4vyj4vbd.
