Emergency Livestock Relief Program

The Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) provides direct financial assistance to livestock producers for losses incurred because of qualifying drought or wildfire in calendar year 2021. Phase 1 provided assistance to eligible livestock producers

ELRP provides direct financial assistance to livestock producers for losses incurred because of qualifying drought or wildfire in calendar year 2021. Phase 1 provided assistance to eligible livestock producers who faced increased supplemental feed costs resulting from forage losses. Phase 2 will provide additional assistance to Phase 1 producers for eligible losses to winter grazing impacted by the continued severe drought and wildfire in 2021. ELRP was authorized by the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act (Pub. L. 117-43). ELRP Phase 1 provided payments to eligible livestock producers using data already submitted to FSA on 2021 Livestock Disaster Program (LFP) Application, CCC-853. Although payments made under LFP do not have a direct correlation to the increased feed costs incurred, to deliver this assistance quickly, FSA used certain LFP data and issued an ELRP payment as a percentage of the gross payment calculated through LFP as a proxy for these increased supplemental feed costs to eliminate the requirement for producers to resubmit information for ELRP Phase 1. No action was required for eligible producers to receive ELRP Phase 1 payments. The ELRP Phase 1 payment was equal to the eligible livestock producer's gross 2021 LFP-calculated payment multiplied by the applicable ELRP payment percentage of 90 percent for underserved farmers and ranchers and 75 percent for all other producers. Phase 2 payments will use the ELRP Phase 1 as proxy and issue an additional 20 percent to represent the additional eligible loss to winter grazing resulting from the severe drought and wildfires during the grazing period in 2021.

Eligible livestock producers for ELRP are producers with an approved 2021 LFP application. Applicants must be a citizen of the United States; resident alien; partnership of U.S. citizens of or resident aliens; corporation, limited liability company, or other organizational structure organized under State law solely owned by U.S. citizens or resident aliens; or Indian Tribe or Tribal organization. Applicants are not subject to an average adjusted gross income limit of $900,000.

Assistance will be used by livestock producer who have experienced increased supplemental feed costs from the loss of forage due to drought or wildfire losses in calendar year 2021.

There was no application period for ELRP. All required supporting documentation for Phase 1 must have been submitted to the applicant's FSA county office no later than 60 days from the date of the ELRP Phase 1 deadline as announced by the Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs of October 31, 2022. All supporting documentation for Phase 2 must be submitted no later than 60 days from the date of the ELRP Phase 2 deadline to be announced by FSA. Funding authorized under the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act (Pub. L. 117-43) expires on December 31, 2023.

The assistance will be approved and awarded by FSA to eligible livestock producers.

The application period for this program has ended.

From 1 to 15 days from the date the Notice of Funding Availability is published.

Applicants may request reconsideration of a decision by the decision authority or appeal such decisions to a higher authority including the county and State FSA committees and the National Appeals Division. Appeal regulations in 7 CFR parts 11 and 780 apply. Matters of general applicability that are not in response to, or result from, an individual set of facts in an individual participant's application for payment are not matters that can be appealed.