U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced the release of Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) payments to assist livestock producers impacted by drought or wildfires in 2023 and/or 2024. On May 7, Rollins promised to expedite the release of funds by May 30.

The payments aim to cover grazing losses. The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) is using existing Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) data to automatically calculate and distribute payments to eligible producers with approved LFP applications. No additional action is required from recipients.

Funded by the American Relief Act, 2025, ELRP is one of two programs designed to address livestock-related disaster losses. A second round of assistance will cover additional events, such as flooding. This program will be announced later in the summer. Given the high demand, ELRP payments will be initially calculated at 35% of eligible losses. There is the potential for a second payment if funds remain.

In addition, the USDA launched a Supplemental Disaster Assistance public landing page on May 7 to provide updates on the rollout of various aid programs. The American Relief Act also allocated $10 billion for producers of covered commodities. A total of $7.7 billion has already been distributed through the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP). The ECAP deadline is August 15, 2025.

Read more about the Emergency Livestock Relief Program here.