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 These updates include changes required by the 2018 Farm Bill as
well as discretionary changes intended to improve the
administration of the program and clarify existing program
requirements. ELAP was previously administered based on FSA’s
fiscal year but will now run according to the calendar year.
Producers are still required to submit an application for
payment within 30 calendar days of the end of the program year.
This is not a policy change but will affect the deadline. The
signup deadline for calendar year 2020 losses is January 30,
2021.
Starting in 2020, producers will have 15 days from when the loss
is first apparent, instead of 30 days, to file a honeybee notice
of loss. This change provides consistency between ELAP and the
Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program, which also has a
15-day notice of loss period for honey. For other covered
losses, including livestock feed, grazing and farm-raised fish
losses, the notice of loss deadline for ELAP will remain 30 days
from when the loss is first apparent to the producer.
Program participants who were paid for the loss of a honeybee
colony or hive in either or both of the previous two years will
be required to provide additional documentation to substantiate
how current year inventory was acquired.
If the honeybee colony loss incurred was because of Colony
Collapse Disorder, program participants must provide a producer
certification that the loss was a direct result of at least
three of the five symptoms of Colony Collapse Disorder, which
include:
-
the loss of live queen and/or drone bee populations inside
the hives;
-
rapid decline of adult worker bee population outside the
hives, leaving brood poorly or completely unattended;
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-
absence of dead adult bees inside the hive and outside the
entrance of the hive;
-
absence of robbing collapsed colonies; and
-
at
the time of collapse, varroa mite and Nosema populations are not
at levels known to cause economic injury or population decline.
For honeybees, ELAP covers colony losses, honeybee hive losses
(the physical structure) and honeybee feed losses in instances
where the colony, hive or feed has been destroyed by a natural
disaster or, in the case of colony losses, because of Colony
Collapse Disorder. Colony losses must be in excess of normal
mortality.
ELAP also provides emergency assistance to eligible producers of
livestock and farm-raised fish including for feed and grazing
losses. It covers losses because of eligible adverse weather or
loss conditions, including blizzards and wildfires on federally
managed lands. ELAP also covers losses resulting from the cost
of transporting water to livestock due to an eligible drought.
For more information on ELAP visit farmers.gov/recover or
contact your FSA County Office. To locate your local FSA office,
visit farmers.gov/service-locator.
[USDA Farm Service Agency] |
