Peace Garden News

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will provide an additional $1 billion in disaster relief to livestock producers impacted by wildfires and floods in 2023 and 2024, according to an announcement from Senator John Hoeven. This marks the second round of livestock assistance, raising the total set aside for such aid to $2 billion. Producers can begin applying for this support on September 15, with the application window closing on October 31.

The funding comes through the Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP), which is part of a broader $21 billion package of weather-related assistance included in legislation passed by Congress at the end of last year. Senator Hoeven played a role in securing these funds.

“This second round of livestock assistance targets wildfire and flood losses and will bring the total to $2 billion in emergency assistance to help livestock producers recover from natural disasters in 2023 and 2024,” said Hoeven. “We appreciate Secretary Rollins for working with us to get this much-needed assistance out to our producers. This funding is part of the $34 billion in disaster aid we worked to secure at the end of year to help our producers who are facing some challenging conditions.”

Under this round, producers located in counties identified by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) as having experienced qualifying floods or wildfires during 2023 or 2024 do not need to submit supporting documentation for those events. The USDA has published a list of approved counties at fsa.usda.gov/elrp. Producers outside these counties may still apply but must provide documentation proving their losses were due to qualifying disasters.

Wildfire relief is also available for participants who did not receive support through either the Livestock Forage Program or previous rounds of ELRP targeting drought and wildfire impacts earlier this year.

Further details about eligibility and program requirements are accessible through USDA resources.