Emergency Livestock 

Relief Program (ELRP) 2022

Background

ELRP 2022 is part of the Farm Service 

Agency’s (FSA) implementation of the 

Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations 

Act, 2023 (P.L. 117-43), which provides 

$3 billion in much needed emergency 

assistance for agricultural producers, 

including $500 million specifically targeted 

for livestock producers impacted by the 

severe drought or eligible wildfire in 

calendar year 2022. 

Overview

To help agricultural producers offset the 

impacts of natural disasters, ranchers who 

faced increased supplemental feed costs 

resulting from forage losses due to severe 

drought or wildfire in 2022 can receive 

emergency assistance payments through 

FSA’s Emergency Livestock Relief Program 

(ELRP) 2022.

Eligibility

For impacted producers, USDA will 

leverage data from the 2022 Livestock 

Forage Disaster Program (LFP) year to 

determine payments to assist with increased 

supplemental feed costs.

LFP is an important tool that provides up to 

60% of the estimated replacement feed cost 

when an eligible drought adversely impacts 

grazing lands or 50% of the monthly feed 

cost for the number of days the producer 

is prohibited from grazing the managed 

rangeland because of a qualifying wildfire. 

LFP provides additional assistance to 

producers for eligible livestock that were 

sold due to a qualifying drought. 

ELRP 2022 only includes 2022 LFP 

participants. To be eligible for an ELRP 

2022 payment, livestock producers must 

have suffered grazing losses in a county 

rated by the U.S. Drought Monitor as 

having a D2 (severe drought) for eight 

consecutive weeks or a D3 (extreme 

drought) or higher level of drought 

intensity during the 2022 normal grazing 

season; or whose permitted grazing on 

federally managed lands was disallowed 

due to wildfire are also eligible for ELRP 

2022 payments. 

How to Apply

As part of FSA’s efforts to streamline 

and simplify the delivery of ELRP 2022 

benefits, eligible livestock producers are 

not required to submit an application; 

however, they must have the following 

forms on file as determined by FSA’s 

Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs: 

FSA-376, Milk Loss Program Application 

• CCC-853, Livestock Forage Disaster 

Program Application

• Form AD-2047, Customer Data 

Worksheet

• Form CCC-902, Farm Operating Plan 

for an individual or legal entity

• Form CCC-901, Member Information 

for Legal Entities (if applicable)

• Form FSA-510, Request for an 

Exception to the $125,000 Payment 

Limitation for Certain Programs (if 

applicable)

For More Info

Additional USDA disaster 

assistance information can 

be found on farmers. gov, 

including USDA resources 

specifically for producers 

impacted by drought and 

wildfire and the Disaster 

Assistance Discovery Tool, 

Disaster-at-a-Glance fact 

sheet, and Farm Loan 

Discovery Tool. 

For FSA and Natural 

Resources Conservation 

Service programs, 

producers should contact 

their local USDA Service 

Center. For assistance with 

a crop insurance claim, 

producers and landowners 

should contact their crop 

insurance agent.

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• Form CCC-860, Socially 

Disadvantaged, Limited Resource, 

Beginning and Veteran Farmer or 

Rancher Certification, if applicable 

for the 2022 program year (if 

applicable)

• A highly erodible land 

conservation (sometimes 

referred to as HELC) and wetland 

conservation certification (Form 

AD-1026 Highly Erodible Land 

Conservation (HELC) and Wetland 

Conservation (WC) Certification) 

for the ELRP producer and 

applicable affiliates.

Eligible Livestock 

Eligible livestock are the same as 

those that are eligible for LFP: grazing 

animals that satisfy the majority of 

net energy requirement of nutrition 

via grazing of eligible forage grasses 

or legumes and include such species 

as alpacas, beef cattle, buffalo/bison, 

beefalo, dairy cattle, deer, elk, emus, 

equine, goats, llamas, ostriches, 

reindeer or sheep. 

As with LFP, livestock eligible for ELRP 

2022 must:

FSA-376, Milk Loss Program Application 

• Have been owned, leased, 

purchased, entered into a contract 

to purchase, or held by a contract 

grower during the 60 days prior to 

the beginning date of a qualifying 

drought or fire condition;

• Have been sold or otherwise 

disposed of due to a qualifying 

drought condition during the 

current production year or one or 

both of the two production years 

immediately preceding the current 

production year;

• Have been maintained for 

commercial use as part of 

a farming operation on the 

beginning date of the eligible 

drought or fire condition;

• Not have been produced and 

maintained for reasons other 

than commercial use as part of a 

farming operation (such excluded 

uses include, but are not limited 

to, wild free-roaming animals 

or animals used for recreational 

purposes such as hunting, pets, or 

used for racing or wagering); and

• Not have been livestock that were 

or would have been in a feedlot 

on the beginning date of the 

qualifying drought or fire as part 

of the normal business operation 

of the livestock owner or contract 

grower. 

Eligible Producers 

Producer eligibility for ELRP 2022 aligns 

with LFP policies. 

To be eligible for ELRP 2022, persons 

or legal entities must be a U.S. citizen, 

resident alien, partnership of U.S. 

citizens, a legal entity organized under 

State law, or an Indian tribe or tribal 

organization defined in the Indian Selfdetermination and Education Assistance 

Act that:

• Own, cash or share lease, or be a 

contract grower of covered livestock 

during the 60 calendar days before 

the beginning date of a qualifying 

drought or fire;

• Provide pastureland or grazing land 

for covered livestock, including 

cash-rented pastureland or grazing 

land as of the date of the qualifying 

drought or fire that is either:

o Physically located in a county 

affected by a qualifying drought tt 

tduring the normal grazing period 

for the county; or

o Rangeland managed by a federal 

agency for which the otherwise 

eligible livestock producer is 

prohibited by the federal agency 

from grazing the normally permitted 

livestock because of a qualifying 

fire.

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Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) 2022
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• Certify that they have suffered a 

grazing loss because of a qualifying 

drought or fire; and

• Timely file an acreage report for 

all grazing land for which a grazing 

loss is being claimed.

ELRP 2022 Payment 

Calculation 

To further expedite payments to 

eligible livestock producers, determine 

eligibility, and calculate an ELRP 2022 

payment, FSA will utilize livestock 

inventories and drought-affected 

forage acreage or restricted animal 

units and grazing days due to wildfire 

already reported by the producer when 

they submitted a 2022 CCC-853, 

Livestock Forage Disaster Program 

Application form. 

Payments will be equal to the eligible 

livestock producer’s gross 2022 LFP 

calculated payment multiplied by 

the applicable ELRP 2022 payment 

percentage and then multiplied by a 25 

percent factor to stay within available 

funding.

The ELRP 2022 payment percentage 

will be 90% for underserved producers, 

including beginning, limited resource, 

and veteran farmers and ranchers, and 

75% for all other producers.  These 

payments will be subject to a payment 

limitation. 

To qualify for the higher payment 

percentage, eligible producers 

must have a CCC-860, Socially 

Disadvantaged, Limited Resource, 

Beginning and Veteran Farmer or 

Rancher Certification form on file with 

FSA for the 2022 program year.

Payment Limitation 

and Adjusted Gross 

Income 

Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) 

limitations do not apply to ELRP; 

however, the payment limitation for 

ELRP is determined by the person’s 

or legal entity’s average adjusted 

gross farm income (income derived 

from farming, ranching, and forestry 

operations). Specifically, a person or 

legal entity, other than a joint venture 

or general partnership, cannot receive, 

directly or indirectly, more than 

$125,000 in payments under ELRP 

2022 if their average adjusted gross 

farm income is less than 75 percent of 

their average AGI for tax years 2018, 

2019, and 2020. 

If at least 75 percent of the person or 

legal entity’s average AGI is derived 

from farming, ranching, or forestry 

related activities and the participant 

provides the required certification and 

documentation, as discussed below, 

the person or legal entity, other than 

a joint venture or general partnership, 

is eligible to receive, directly or 

indirectly, up to $250,000 in ELRP 

payments. To request the increased 

payment limitation, participants must 

file form FSA-510 complete with 

participant’s certification their average 

adjusted gross farm income is at 

least 75 percent of their average AGI 

and a certification from a Licensed 

Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or 

Attorney that the participant meets 

the requirements. 

Attribution of payments apply to 

ELRP and payments to a legal entity 

are tracked through four levels of 

ownership, attributed, and limited 

to persons or legal entities that hold 

an ownership interest in the legal 

entity. For more information, see the 

Direct Attribution information on the 

Payment Limitations web page.

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Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) 2022