SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Livestock producers in most Southeast Georgia and South Carolina counties are now eligible for disaster recovery assistance through a $1 billion relief program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Emergency Livestock Relief Program will help offset increased feed costs related to flooding and wildfire in 2023 and 2024.

In a press release, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced eligible livestock producers will receive disaster recovery assistance through the Emergency Livestock Relief Program for 2023 and 2024 Flood and Wildfire (ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW) to help offset increased supplemental feed costs due to a qualifying flood or qualifying wildfire in calendar years 2023 and 2024.

The program is expected to provide approximately $1 billion in recovery benefits.

Sign-up begins on Monday, September 15, and livestock producers have until October 31, 2025, to apply for assistance.

We are providing continued support for livestock producers whose livelihoods and way of life have been disrupted by catastrophic floods, wildfires, and poor forage conditions in 2023 and 2024.

Under President Trump’s leadership, USDA is standing shoulder to shoulder with America’s farmers and ranchers, delivering the resources they need to stay in business, feed their families, and keep our food supply strong.

This announcement builds on the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program (SDRP) and the historic levels of assistance we have rolled out over the last few months, once again proving that this administration is working as quickly as possible to get help out the door and into the hands of livestock and dairy producers.

USDA will continue to put farmers first and ensure they have the relief they need to weather storms and build for the future.

Qualifying Disaster Events

To streamline program delivery, FSA has determined eligible counties with qualifying floods and qualifying wildfires in 2023 and 2024.

For losses in these counties, livestock producers are not required to submit supporting documentation for floods or wildfires.

A list of approved counties is available at fsa.usda.gov/elrp.

For WTOC viewers, this includes every county in our coverage area except for Montgomery County and McIntosh County.

For losses in counties not listed as eligible, livestock producers can apply for ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW but must provide supporting documentation to demonstrate that a qualifying flood or qualifying wildfire occurred in the county where the livestock were physically located or would have been physically located if not for the disaster event.

FSA county committees will determine if the disaster event meets program requirements.

Livestock and Producer Eligibility

For ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW, FSA is using covered livestock criteria similar to the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) which includes weaned beef cattle, dairy cattle, beefalo, buffalo, bison, alpacas, deer, elk, emus, equine, goats, llamas, ostriches, reindeer, and sheep.

Wildfire assistance is available on non-federally managed land to participants who did not receive assistance through LFP or the ELRP 2023 and 2024 for drought and wildfire program delivered to producers in July of this year.

Payment Calculation

Eligible producers can receive up to 60% of one month of calculated feed costs for a qualifying wildfire or three months for a qualifying flood using the same monthly feed cost calculation that is used for LFP.

ELRP 2023 and 2024 for drought and wildfire and ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW have a combined payment limit of $125,000 for each program year.

Producers who already received the maximum payment amount from ELRP 2023 and 2024 for drought and wildfire will not be eligible to receive an additional payment under ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW.

Eligible producers may submit form FSA-510, Request for an Exception to the $125,000 Payment Limitation for Certain Programs, to be considered for an increased payment limit of $250,000.

Supplemental Disaster Assistance Timeline

Users can check the 2023/2024 Supplemental Disaster Assistance public landing page where the status of USDA disaster assistance and block grant rollout timeline can be tracked.

The page is updated regularly and accessible through fsa.usda.gov. Contact your local FSA county office for more information

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