Disaster program deadline approaching

The Farm Bill passed last year had a number of new disaster programs included. Some aspects of these programs were quite different than in the past requiring a considerable amount of time for development of the new program operating procedures. Consequently, implementation is just now occurring for most aspects of these mandated efforts.

These programs include the Livestock Forage Program (LFP) that covers grazing losses due to drought. The Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) designed to cover death losses in excess of normal due to natural disaster events. The Supplemental Revenue Assistance program (SURE) that provides operation-wide revenue based disaster coverage for mechanically harvested crops (wheat, corn, soybeans, hay, etc). And, the Tree Assistance Program (TAP) to provide compensation to specialty crop farmers to replant trees and vines destroyed by a natural disaster.

Another program included in this legislation (and the focus of this writing) is the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm Raised Fish Program abbreviated ELAP. This program is designed to offer some disaster protection for honeybee or farm raised fish losses, but also (and of more interest in this area) to offer coverage for livestock feed losses due to some other kinds of natural disasters besides drought or death losses.

Those additional circumstances could be floods, tornadoes, blizzards, hail storms, disease mitigation, etc. For example, if a significant portion of hay bales washed down the river in a flood, ELAP might provide some assistance to replace the lost feed.

Another example -- if grazing was wiped out by a hail storm, their could be some ELAP eligibility for lost grazing based on a daily grazing rate for the weight range of applicable livestock. Payments for eligible livestock grazing losses are calculated based on 60 percent of the lesser of: the total value of the feed cost for all covered livestock based on the number of days grazing lost not to exceed 90 days of daily feed costs; or the total value of grazing lost for all eligible livestock based on normal carrying capacity not to exceed 90 days.

Compensation for purchased or harvested feed that was lost or destroyed will be reimbursed at 60 percent of the cost of the feed that was lost or destroyed or the additional cost associated with providing feed for livestock.

An eligible honey bee producer is a producer that has a risk in the honey production or pollination farming operation for the purpose of producing honey or pollination for commercial use as part of a farming operation on the beginning date of the eligible adverse weather or eligible loss condition.

The level of funding is capped, which means that all applications will be taken and payments factored down if the nationally computed payment total exceeds the specified funding total.

All that said -- sign up date deadlines will be coming into play very soon. An ELAP notice of loss must be provided to your local FSA office no later than Dec. 10, 2009 for losses that occurred in 2008 and on or before September 11, 2009. For losses since September 12, 2009, notice of loss should be filed the earlier of 30 days from when the loss occurred or January 30, 2010.

Some additional critical details about ELAP:

1) The program requires that all mechanically harvested crops be covered by either regular crop insurance or our Non-insured Assistance Program (NAP) in order for a producer to qualify for ELAP. However,

2) Equitable relief might be approved in some cases depending upon a producer's situation allowing participation without the insurance coverage. And,

3) Socially disadvantaged (for this program, minority farmers only), limited resource farmers (less than $155,200 in gross sales and less than $21,200 in total household adjusted gross income), and beginning farmers or ranchers (involved in farming for less than 10 years) are not required to meet the insurance coverage requirements.

Those with questions or wishing to file for ELAP benefits need to contact your local FSA office by the December 10, 2009 deadline. USDA is an equal opportunity employer, provider and lender.

Editor's Note: Doug Niemeir is the County Executive Director for the USDA/Farm Service Agency. He can be reached by emailing him at Douglas.Niemeir@ks.usda.gov