New Farm Bill Provides Permanent Livestock Disaster
Assistance Programs
The 2014 Farm Bill, formally known as the
Agricultural Act of 2014, makes the Livestock Forage
Program (LFP) and Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP)
permanent programs and provides retroactive
authority to cover eligible losses back to
Oct.
1, 2011.
LFP provides compensation to eligible producers who
suffered grazing losses due to drought and fire. LIP
provides compensation to livestock producers who
suffered livestock death losses in excess of normal
mortality due to adverse weather and attacks by
animals reintroduced into the wild by the Federal
Government or protected by Federal law, including
wolves and avian predators.
USDA is determined to make implementing the
livestock disaster programs a top priority and plans
to open program enrollment by
April 15, 2014.
As USDA begins implementing the livestock disaster
assistance programs, producers should record all
pertinent information of natural disaster
consequences, including:
-
Documentation of the number and kind of
livestock that have died, supplemented if
possible by photographs or video records of
ownership and losses
-
Dates of death supported by birth recordings or
purchase receipts
-
Costs of transporting livestock to safer grounds
or to move animals to new pastures
-
Feed purchases if supplies or grazing pastures
are destroyed
-
Crop records, including seed and fertilizer
purchases, planting and production records
-
Pictures of on-farm storage facilities that were
destroyed by wind or flood waters
-
Evidence of damaged farm land.
Many producers still have questions. USDA is in the
process of interpreting Farm Bill program
regulations. Additional information will be provided
once the enrollment period is announced. In the
meantime, producers can review the
LIP and LFP Fact Sheets. Thanks for your
patience as USDA works diligently to put Farm Bill
programs into action to benefit the farmers and
ranchers of rural America. |
