The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) reminds producers of the July 14 deadline to apply for the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) Phase Two and the Pandemic Assistance Revenue Program (PARP). These revenue-based programs help offset revenue losses from 2020 and 2021 natural disasters or the COVID-19 pandemic.
ERP and PARP offer a holistic approach to disaster assistance and provide economic support for producers who bear the financial brunt of circumstances beyond their control.
“With a focus on revenue-based assistance, our goal is to provide all producers of eligible crops and livestock, including new and underserved producers, with financial support to ease the economic impact of compounded, adverse market and weather instabilities,” said Tim Divis, Acting State Executive Director for FSA in Nebraska. “Applying this holistic approach to assistance acknowledges the myriad of crises that producers have faced in recent years.”
Eligibility
To be eligible for ERP Phase Two, producers must have suffered a decrease in allowable gross revenue in 2020 or 2021 due to necessary expenses related to losses of eligible crops from a qualifying natural disaster event. Assistance will be primarily to producers of crops that were not covered by federal crop insurance or the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP), since crops covered by these were included in the assistance under ERP Phase One.
To be eligible for PARP, an agricultural producer of eligible crops and livestock must have been in the business of farming during at least part of the 2020 calendar year and had a 15% or greater decrease in allowable gross revenue for the 2020 calendar year, as compared to a baseline year.
FSA offers an online ERP tool and PARP tool that can help producers determine what is considered allowable gross revenue for each respective program. Through cooperative agreements with FSA, nine organizations are also providing free ERP Phase Two application assistance to producers across the United States and territories.
ERP Phase Two Policy Updates
USDA recently updated ERP Phase Two to provide a method for valuing losses and accessing ERP Phase Two benefits to eligible producers of certain crops, including grapes grown and used by the same producer for wine production or forage that is grown, stored and fed to livestock, that do not generate revenue directly from the sale of the crop. Revenue and pricing guidelines for expected revenue for wine grapes and on-farm forage is available online for producer reference and convenience when applying for ERP Phase Two.
Requirement to Purchase Crop Insurance or NAP Coverage
All producers who receive ERP Phase Two payments must purchase crop insurance, or NAP coverage where crop insurance is not available, in the next two available crop years as determined by the Secretary. Purchased coverage must be at 60/100 level of coverage or higher for insured crops, or at the catastrophic coverage level or higher for NAP crops.
Crops that are not eligible for crop insurance or NAP are still eligible for ERP Phase Two, but producers must obtain Whole Farm Revenue Protection or a Micro Farm Program policy to meet linkage requirements.
Producers should contact their local FSA office to make an appointment to apply for ERP Phase Two and PARP assistance. Producers should also keep in mind that July 17 is a major deadline to complete acreage reports for most crops. FSA encourages producers to complete the ERP Phase Two application, PARP application and acreage reporting during the same office visit.