2023/24 ELRP Details Released
About $1 billion of livestock aid is being released starting very soon
The American Relief Act allocated $2 billion of disaster aid for livestock producers affected by drought and wildfires for 2023 and 2024. USDA just released the details on part of this aid. This aid will be about $1 billion of the total $2 billion for livestock. The details on the other $1 billion will be released later.
Some of the key details of the aid are:
Automatic Enrollment: Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) payments will be automatically disbursed to livestock producers that had already participated in the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) for 2023 and 2024. Payments will be automatically processed based on approved 2023 or 2024 LFP applications and most of the payments will be disbursed next week.
Covered Losses: Drought and wildfires qualify. Flood related losses will come at a later date.
Payment Limits: The payment limit will be $125,000; however, if the rancher’s AGI from farming is more than 75%, then the payment limit will be $250,000. The normal 66.66% rules on equipment gains, etc. applies also.
It is estimated that about $721 million will be paid out for 2023 and about $346 million for 2024.
The payment factor is 35% of estimated rancher’s losses and the program is designed to reimburse about 32% of estimated losses for 2023 and 29% for 2024 as per this table:
Here is an example of how a payment would work for a producer:
“Table 2 illustrates a situation where a producer received an LFP payment for both 2023 and 2024, representing five months of disaster assistance for each program year. In this example, the producer has 250 head of cattle eligible for 2023 ELRP and 250 head eligible for 2024 ELRP and received the maximum LFP payment. Therefore, the producer is also eligible for the maximum ELRP benefit per head. In this example, this producer's estimated gross 2023 and 2024 ELRP payments, using an ELRP payment factor of 35 percent, are calculated to be $15,256 for 2023 losses and $13,799 for 2024 losses (Table 2 Column F), or $61.02 per AU for 2023 and $55.20 per AU for 2024 (Table 2 Column G).”
If funding remains after flood aid is paid out, then ranchers may get a “top-up” payment that could go as high as 60%.
We will keep you posted.