Emergency Relief Program 2022 

(Track 1) Delivery Snapshot MONTANA

In passing the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations 

Act, 2023 (P.L. 117-328), Congress intended the emergency 

relief for losses resulting from eligible natural disasters 

occurring in calendar year 2022 to be delivered in the same 

manner as previous assistance (specifically Emergency Relief 

Program (ERP) Phase 1 for 2020 and 2021 losses).

To enhance access to critical assistance based on indemnified 

losses, FSA incorporated key improvements from lessons 

learned, including: 

 Track 1 has been enhanced to support an update/

correction process to allow additional Risk Management 

Agency (RMA) records to be included under ERP 2022 

ensuring that participants with eligible records have access 

to critical assistance. 

 To support access to emergency relief in a manner that 

aligns with the structure of the operation, the Track 1 

application process has been enhanced to include all 

Substantial Beneficial Holders listed on a crop 

insurance policy. 

Progressive Factoring (vs. Flat Rate) is a more 

advantageous, equitable distribution of limited funds to 

more producers in need of assistance. 

 In early conversations about the need for 2022 emergency 

relief assistance, USDA informed Congress that the 

Department estimated disaster-impacted producers 

incurred at least $10 billion in uncovered losses. Actual 

numbers are closer to $12 billion in uncovered losses. 

When the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 

2023 (P.L. 117-328) passed, Congress allocated $3.2 billion 

in funding for uncovered crop losses. 

 With a known funding deficit, USDA found an equitable 

process that would provide the most benefits to the most 

producers. According to RMA and FSA data, roughly

206,000 crop insurance and 4,500 Noninsured Crop 

Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) policies had an 

indemnity that would earn a payment through ERP 

2022 Track 1. 

 If a flat factor was applied, the factor would have been 

27%. For a policy holder (producer/operation) to earn more 

in ERP 2022 benefits under a flat factor (vs. a progressive 

factor), it would have required an ERP gross payment of 

around $30,000. 

Designing and Deploying ERP

When designing and deploying a program as complex 

as ERP, we’ve made every effort to incorporate 

lessons learned from our previous disaster programs 

as well as glean important input from producers, 

commodity groups, members of Congress and other 

stakeholder groups before opening the program for 

applications. The end result is a more advantageous, 

equitable distribution of limited funds to more 

producers in need of assistance.

DECEMBER 2023 MONTANA

 More than 80% of the 210,500 indemnified policies have 

ERP gross payments less than $30,000 meaning nearly 

170,000 producers will receive a higher payment using the 

progressive factor when compared to the 27% flat factor. 

It’s important to understand that, for these producers, the 

ERP 2022 payment is in addition to over $19 billion in 

indemnities already received through their respective RMA 

or FSA risk coverage options. 

 Should Congress authorize additional funding, FSA can 

timely issue additional assistance by adjusting factors 

currently in place.

For MONTANA, the ERP 2022 progressive factoring option 

is more advantageous than the flat factor for 67% of 

program participants.

Flat vs. 

Progressive1

Number of 

Producers with 

Effective Factor

Share of 

Producers with 

Effective Factor

<0.27 2,222 33%

>=0.27 4,446 67%

1 Producers who received an effective factor greater than 

27 percent did better with progressive factoring while 

those with an effective factor of less than 27 percent would 

have done better if a flat factor was used.
EMERGENCY RELIEF PROGRAM 2022 (TRACK 1) DELIVERY SNAPSHOT 2

Much-needed assistance delivered to small and mid-size family 

farms and underserved producers that historically have not 

had the same risk protection opportunities that are critical to 

sustaining operations in times of disaster.

 Offering a reduction in premiums and fees provides additional 

assistance to more-often vulnerable and smaller operations 

who lack financial resources to access higher levels of coverage 

through crop insurance or 

FSA’s NAP. 

 Most U.S. farms are small family farms; these farms operate on 

46% of U.S. agricultural land and account for 19% of the total 

value of production.

 In 2022, approximately 88% of all farms were small family farms 

and operated 46% of U.S. agricultural land. 

According to USDA Economic Research Service Data 

(see figure 1):

 Most U.S. farms are small family farms; In 2022, approximately 

88% of all farms were small family farms that operated 46% of 

U.S. agricultural land and accounted for 

19% of the total value of production. Fig. 1

For MONTANA, ERP 2022 payments complement more than $792.3 MILLION in disaster recovery benefits delivered to disasterimpacted producers in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 (as of Dec. 10, 2023).

Program Program Year/ 

Fiscal Year 2020

Program Year/ 

Fiscal Year 2021

Program Year/ 

Fiscal Year 2022

Program Year/ 

Fiscal Year 2023 Total

Emergency Conservation 

Program (ECP)

$659,168 $485,813 $4,651,369 $12,935,877 $18,732,227

Emergency Forest Restoration 

Program (EFRP)

$42,877 $15,263 $269,626 $2,258,102 $2,585,868

Emergency Assistance for 

Livestock (ELAP)

$1,017,913 $28,098,790 $31,130,933 $11,282,786 $71,530,422

Emergency Livestock Relief 

Program (ELRP)

$101,616,623 $21,844,504 $123,461,126

Emergency Loans (EM Loans) $411,880 $411,880

Emergency Relief Program 

(ERP)

$23,018,039 $263,401,569 $1,193,546 $287,613,154

Emergency Relief Program 

Phase 2 (ERP 2)

$2,174,422 $8,460,550 $10,634,972

Emergency Relief Program 

2022 (ERP 2022)

$12,064,008 $12,064,008

Livestock Forage Disaster 

Program (LFP)

$6,846,665 $100,271,783 $101,761,173 $3,449,320 $212,328,941

Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) $354,013 $230,025 $3,955,912 $1,331,707 $5,871,657

Noninsured Crop Disaster 

Assistance Program (NAP)

$4,934,198 $29,807,445 $12,026,225 $261,798 $47,029,666

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