FSA Programs for Drought Assistance

By Heather Gessner

Drought conditions across a growing number of South Dakota counties have many livestock producers facing forage shortages. The Agriculture Act of 2014, most commonly known as the 2014 Farm Bill, includes programs designed to assist livestock producers facing extended drought conditions. Many of USDA’s disaster programs are effective when the United States Drought Monitor indicates severe (D2) and extreme (D3) drought category. The following summarizes the USDA disaster programs that are currently available. Additional information can be found on USDA-Farm Service Agency website. Please note that not all counties may qualify for a particular program.

Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP)
The Livestock Forage Disaster Program is available to eligible producers facing grazing losses due to drought or fire.
Qualifications

• To qualify for LFP assistance:
• A producer must own, lease or contract feed any of the covered classes of livestock during the 60 calendar days prior to the qualifying drought or fire occurrence
• A producer must provide pasture or grazing land in the qualified county or have been prohibited from grazing federally managed rangeland due to a qualifying fire occurrence
• A producer must certify grazing losses have occurred due to the qualifying drought or fire occurrence
• A producer must file form CCC-853 for all grazing acres that qualify due to forage losses due to drought or fire by the deadline

Eligible Livestock
Qualified livestock includes beef, dairy, buffalo, sheep, goats, deer, equine, swine, elk, poultry, reindeer, alpacas, emus, and llamas. For 2017, the monthly payment rate for adult beef bulls and cows is $30.00, beef non-adult animals weighing 500 pounds or more is $22.50, and the all sheep rate is $7.50. The Farm Service Agency LFP fact sheet contains a full list of the rates for eligible livestock.

County Drought Qualifications
The number of weeks a county is designated as a D2, D3 or D4 drought per the U.S Drought Monitor determines the number of months of feed assistance that can be received by the producer. A livestock producer is eligible for LFP assistance if they own or lease grazing land in a county that has been rated by the U.S. Drought Monitor as:

• D2 (severe drought) for at least eight (8) consecutive weeks during the grazing period, assistance equal to one monthly payment,
• D3 (extreme drought) at any time during the normal grazing period, assistance equal to three (3) monthly payments,
• D3(extreme drought) for at least four (4) weeks during the grazing period, assistance equal to four (4) monthly payments,
• D4 (exceptional drought) at any time during normal grazing period, assistance equal to four (4) monthly payments,
• D4 (exceptional drought) for four (4) weeks, not necessarily consecutively, during the grazing period, assistance equal to five (5) monthly payments.