Bonham, Texas -- USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) announces that drought impacted producers may be eligible for financial assistance through the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP), Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) to provide financial assistance to eligible producers for 2024 grazing losses due to a qualifying drought and provide water for impacted livestock.
“Producers across Fannin County have been faced with another significant drought year causing considerable economic hardship as they go to great lengths to provide adequate feed, forage and water for their livestock,” said Amy Lindsey, County Executive Director for Fannin FSA. “Producers who are eligible for the much-needed disaster recovery assistance are encouraged to contact the Fannin FSA office to schedule an appointment to apply.”
Livestock Forage Disaster Program
The Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) provides payments to eligible livestock producers and contract growers who also produce forage crops for grazing and suffered losses due to a qualifying drought or fire during the normal grazing period for the county. Eligible livestock include alpacas, beef cattle, buffalo/bison, beefalo, dairy cattle, deer, elk, emus, equine, goats, llamas, ostriches, reindeer, or sheep that have been or would have been grazing the eligible grazing land or pastureland during the normal grazing period.
Fannin county met the drought severity level that triggered LFP eligibility for the 2024 program year on October 1, 2024. For LFP, qualifying drought triggers are determined using the U.S. Drought Monitor. A list of eligible counties and grazing crops can be found on the FSA Texas webpage.
To expedite the application process, producers are encouraged to gather and submit records documenting 2024 losses. Supporting documents may include information related to grazing leases, contract grower agreements, and more.
The deadline to apply for 2024 LFP assistance is Jan. 30, 2025.
Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program
For eligible producers in qualifying counties, the ELAP provides financial assistance for:
· the transportation of water to livestock;
· the above normal cost of mileage for transporting feed to livestock; and
· the above normal cost of transporting livestock to forage/grazing acres.*
*No payment for “empty miles.”
Eligible livestock include cattle, bison, goats and sheep, among others, that are maintained for commercial use and located in a county where qualifying drought conditions occur. A county must have had D2 severe drought intensity on the U.S. Drought Monitor for eight consecutive weeks during the normal grazing period, or D3 or D4 drought intensity at any time during the normal grazing period. Producers must have risk in both eligible livestock and eligible grazing land in an eligible county to qualify for ELAP assistance.
Transporting Water, Feed and Livestock
For ELAP water transportation assistance, producers must be transporting water to eligible livestock on eligible grazing land where adequate livestock watering systems or facilities were in place before the drought occurred and where water transportation is not normally required. ELAP covers costs associated with personal labor, equipment, hired labor, and contracted water transportation fees. Cost of the water itself is not covered. The ELAP payment formula uses a national average price per gallon.
ELAP also provides financial assistance to livestock producers who incur above normal expenses for transporting feed to livestock and who are hauling livestock to a new location for feed resources due to insufficient feed or grazing in drought-impacted areas. For transporting feed or hauling livestock, the payment formula excludes the first 25 miles and any mileage over 1,000 miles.
An online tool is now available to help ranchers document and estimate payments to cover feed and livestock transportation costs caused by drought and view the demonstration video.
Reporting Losses
Producers must submit a notice of loss to their local FSA office within 30 calendar days of when the loss is apparent. Producers should contact FSA as soon as the loss of water or feed resources are known.
For ELAP eligibility, documentation of expenses is critical. Producers should maintain records and receipts associated with the costs of transporting water to eligible livestock, the costs of transporting feed to eligible livestock, the costs of additional feed purchases, and the costs of transporting eligible livestock to forage or other grazing acres.
The deadline to apply for 2024 ELAP is Jan. 30, 2025.
Additional Drought Recovery Assistance
The Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) provides financial assistance to producers of non-insurable crops to protect against natural disasters that result in lower yields, crop losses or prevents crop planting including crops planted and grown for livestock consumption such as grain and forage crops, including native forage. Eligible producers would have had to have obtained NAP coverage for the crop year in which the qualifying loss occurred.
FSA also offers a variety of direct and guaranteed farm loans, including operating and emergency farm loans, to producers who cannot secure commercial financing. Producers in counties with a primary or contiguous disaster designation may be eligible for low-interest emergency loans to help them recover from production and physical losses. Loans can help producers replace essential property, purchase inputs like livestock, equipment, feed and seed, cover family living expenses or refinance farm-related debts and other needs. Additionally, FSA has a variety of loan servicing options available for borrowers who are unable to make scheduled payments on their farm loan debt to FSA because of reasons beyond their control.
More Information
Additional disaster assistance information can be found on farmers.gov, including the Farmers.gov Drought Webpage, Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster-at-a-Glance fact sheet, and Farm Loan Discovery Tool.
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USDA is expanding the service that USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) has used for years to now include local information from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Risk Management Agency (RMA), and other USDA agencies.
Subscribers will now receive important information on programs, eligibility requirements and deadlines from the FSA, NRCS, and RMA.
USDA will send news and updates through a single email or text message subscription through govDelivery, a communication technology service for government agencies. The digital communications platform is secure and subscriber contact information will not be shared.
For existing subscribers, news will continue to be sent via e-mail right to your home or farm office, or to your smartphone – allowing you to receive immediate notification of USDA news that applies to your agricultural operation.
How to Subscribe
Producers can subscribe online in minutes by visiting farmers.gov/subscribe. From this link, producers can choose to receive email communications, text message alerts or both. The first step is establishing subscriber preferences by choosing to receive program information by topic, by state and/or by local Service Center. Producers can select as many subscriber options as they want, which allows those who have agricultural interests in multiple counties or across state lines to receive updates from each county in which they operate or have an interest.
Producers can also subscribe to text alerts from the Fannin County USDA Service Center by texting TXFANNIN to 372-669. Standard text messaging rates apply. Contact your wireless carrier for details associated with your particular data plan. Participants may unsubscribe at any time.
More Information
For more information visit farmers.gov/working-with-us/stay-connected or for subscription assistance contact the Fannin County USDA Service Center at 903-583-9513.
