Emergency Livestock Relief Program Offers Up to $1 Billion in Disaster Assistance
Washington, D.C.- November 21, 2025 - Teh Farm Service Agency (FSA) is now fully operational and accepting applications for the Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) 2023 and 2024 FW, designed to deliver approximately $1 billion in vital recovery benefits to livestock and dairy producers impacted by devastating floods and wildfires in 2023 and 2024.
FSA Administrator Bill Beam acknowledged the challenges producers faced during the recent goverment shutdown, stating, “We recognize that temporary FSA Service Center closures may have prevented livestock and dairy producers from applying for crucial flood and wildfire recovery assistance.As directed by secretary Rollins, FSA county offices are now open and fully staffed five days a week to provide much-needed economic support through essential safety-net and disaster assistance programs like ELRP. We are fully committed to ensuring farmers and ranchers once again have access to core FSA services and programs.”
Streamlined Eligibility & Documentation
To expedite program delivery, the FSA has identified eligible counties experiencing qualifying floods and wildfires in 2023 and 2024. Producers in these designated counties will not be required to submit supporting documentation proving the occurrence of a flood or wildfire. A complete list of approved counties can be found at fsa.usda.gov/elrp.
Producers experiencing losses in counties not on the approved list may still be eligible for ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW, but will need to provide documentation demonstrating a qualifying flood or wildfire impacted the location of thier livestock, or where they would have been located had the disaster not occurred. FSA county committees will assess whether the submitted disaster event meets program requirements.
Acceptable documentation includes,but is not limited to:
* Photographs illustrating the impact to livestock,land,or property.
* Insurance documentation.
* Official emergency declaration reports.
* Relevant news articles.
* records from the national oceanic and Atmospheric Administration storm event database.
* Documentation of participation in other FSA disaster programs.
* Any other documentation deemed acceptable by the local FSA county committee.
Eligible Livestock & Assistance Scope
ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW utilizes covered livestock eligibility criteria consistent with the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP),encompassing weaned beef cattle,dairy cattle,beefalo,buffalo,bison,alpacas,deer,elk,emus,equine,goats,llamas,ostriches,reindeer,and sheep.
Wildfire assistance is available for producers on non-federally managed land who have not previously received aid through FSA’s LFP or ELRP 2023 and 2024 for drought and wildfire impacts.
Producers can apply for assistance covering losses from one or both years (2023 and 2024) and for multiple qualifying disaster events, provided they do not exceed a maximum of three months of assistance per producer, per physical location county, and per program year.
Payment Calculation Details
Eligible producers can receive up to 60% of one month of calculated feed costs for a qualifying wildfire, or three months of calculated feed costs for a qualifying flood. The feed cost calculation will be based on the same methodology used for LFP.
The combined payment limit for ELRP 2023 and 2024 for drought and wildfire, and ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW is $125,000 per program year.Producers who have already reached the $125,000 maximum payment from ELRP 2023 and 2024 for drought and wildfire will not be eligible for additional payments under ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW.However, producers may submit an FSA-510, Request for an Exception to the $125,000 Payment Limitation for Certain Programs, to potentially qualify for an increased payment limitation of $250,000.
Accessing Assistance
Producers seeking more information about FSA programs or wishing to schedule an appointment are encouraged to contact their local USDA Service Center. A service center locator is available at https://www.farmers.gov/working-with-us/service-center-locator.
