MADISON
Eligible commercial producers of farm-raised fish who lost harvested and purchased feed for the fish or commercial producers of bait or sport fish that suffered death losses due to adverse weather on or after Jan. 1, 2008 and before Oct. 1, 2011, can now sign up for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) Livestock, Honey Bees and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP).
“Producers who suffered losses due to weather will be required to provide documentation of the losses,” said Brad Pfaff, state executive director. “Losses because of adverse weather occurring since Jan. 1, 2008, such as flooding, tornados, high winds and contaminated water with death losses and excessive heat with death losses may be eligible for ELAP benefits.”
For feed losses, documentation includes the types of feed purchased, cost of feed, date purchased and signatures of the vendors. Documentation for harvested feed would include evidence that supports the amount of feed claimed as harvested and lost. Documentation will also be required to support the beginning, pre-disaster inventories and ending inventories of farm-raised fish.
“Our local FSA staff can provide producers with a list of acceptable loss documentation that includes proof of loss, producer records and verifiable inventory documentation,” said Pfaff.
To qualify for ELAP, producers need to be aware of the following dates:
• Producers that suffered farm-raised fish losses in the 2008 calendar year have until Dec. 10 to file notice of loss and application for payment for ELAP at their local FSA office.
• Producers suffering losses from Jan. 1 to Sept. 10 must file a notice of loss application by Dec. 10. The final date to submit an application for payment for 2009 losses is Jan. 30, 2010.
• For farm-raised fish losses that occur from Sept. 11 to Dec. 31, producers will have 30 days after the loss to file a notice of loss at FSA and will have until Jan. 30, 2010, to apply for payment.
• For losses after Jan. 1, 2010, producers will have 30 days after the loss occurred to file a notice of loss. Application for payment must be filed within 30 days of the end of the calendar year.
Adequate documentation must prove the loss occurred as a direct result of an eligible adverse weather event in the calendar year for which benefits are being requested. Producers must file an acreage report on farm-raised fish pond acres.
Producer eligibility for ELAP also requires that all crops in all counties have crop insurance coverage or Noninsured Disaster Assistance Program coverage for the crop year in which benefits are requested. An exception to the insurance and NAP requirements would be producers considered limited resource, socially disadvantage or beginning farmers. For 2008 crop year losses, producers could have also qualified for ELAP by “buying in” for eligibility.
USDA’s payment limitations provisions apply to producers enrolling in the disaster programs along with adjusted gross income limitations and conservation compliance.
Provisions for the other disaster assistance programs authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill, which include Livestock Forage Disaster Program and Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program are available at your local FSA office. Information on the Tree Assistance Program will be available in the upcoming months.
Producers need to contact their local FSA county offices for ELAP sign-up.
