The United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency State Executive Director Brent Hampy reminds producers who experienced losses from natural disasters during the 2017 and 2018 calendar years that they may be eligible for assistance through several programs.
One of those is the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program, which provides emergency assistance to eligible producers who have suffered losses due to an adverse weather or loss condition, including blizzards, disease, water shortages, and wildfires.
The assistance is provided for losses not covered by other disaster assistance programs. Producers must file a notice of loss and application for payment at their local FSA office by December 3rd for losses occurring October 1st, 2016 through September 30th, 2018.
Another program producers may be eligible for assistance through is the Livestock Indemnity Program, which provides compensation to eligible livestock owners or contract growers for livestock deaths in excess of normal mortality or injury resulting in reduced value caused by an eligible loss condition.
Livestock owners or contract growers must file a notice of loss the later of 30 calendar days from when the loss of livestock is first apparent or December 3rd. For 2017 losses, owners and growers must file an application for payment by December 3rd. For 2018 losses, they must file an application for payment by March 1st.
Hampy reports that the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 made several changes to FSA disaster programs. He says those include eliminating the 20 million dollar fiscal year funding cap for Emergency Assistance for the Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program, eliminating the $125,000 payment limitation for the Livestock Indemnity Program for 2017 and future years, and allowing producers to receive a payment for injured livestock sold for a reduced price due to an eligible event.
As a result of the changes, producers were allowed to submit applications for 2017 losses June 4th if they reached the payment limitation under the previous rules. The application periods for the programs for the 2017 program year will close December 3rd.
Producers who already submitted applications and received decisions for these years do not need to file again. However, they can reapply if they have additional losses on their application or notice of loss was denied because it was late filed.
Contact a local FSA office for more information or visit farmers.gov.
