Central ND News

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will provide an additional $1 billion in disaster relief to livestock producers affected 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.

Livestock producers can begin applying for this relief on Monday, September 15, with the application window closing on October 31.

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

“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.”

For this round, livestock producers located in counties identified by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) as having experienced qualifying floods or wildfires do not need to submit supporting documentation regarding those events. The list of approved counties can be found at https://www.fsa.usda.gov/elrp. Producers outside these counties may still apply but must provide evidence that their losses were due to qualifying disasters.

Additionally, wildfire relief is available only for those who did not already receive support through either the Livestock Forage Program or earlier rounds of ELRP aid distributed for drought and wildfire impacts earlier this year.

More details about eligibility and program specifics are available through USDA resources.