Justification memo

United States
Department of
Agriculture

DATE:

April 1, 2022

TO:

Farm Production
And Conservation
(FPAC)

Brenda Aguilar
Branch Chief

THROUGH:

Ruth Brown
USDA Information Collection Officer

FROM:

Scott Marlow
Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs

SUBJECT:

Request for Emergency Approval for a New Information Collection
Package—Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP)

Farm Service
Agency (FSA)
1400 Independence
Avenue, SW
Stop 0540
Washington, DC
20250-0540

WILLIAM
MARLOW

Digitally signed by
WILLIAM MARLOW
Date: 2022.04.01
13:04:05 -04'00'

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is requesting OMB approval on the emergency approval of a
collection of information necessary to implement the Emergency Livestock Relief Program
(ELRP) phase 1 which will assist eligible livestock producers who faced increased supplemental
feed costs as a result of forage losses due to a qualifying drought or wildfire in calendar year
2021. FSA could not obtain OMB approval under the normal clearance and likely to prevent or
disrupt the collection under the Paperwork Reduction Act to begin the ELRP Phase 1 quickly.
FSA is using ELRP Phase 1 funds provided by the Extending Government Funding and
Delivering Emergency Assistance Act, (Division B, Title I, Pub. L. 117-43) to assist producers of
livestock for losses incurred during calendar year 2021 due to qualifying droughts or wildfires.
The livestock producers who suffered losses due to drought are eligible for assistance if any area
within the county in which the loss occurred was rated by the U.S. Drought Monitor as having a
D2 (severe drought) for eight consecutive weeks or a D3 (extreme drought) or higher level of
drought intensity during the applicable year.
Because FSA is using LFP information to generate a reasonable approximation for the costs
covered by ELRP Phase 1, no action is required for eligible producers to receive these payments,
unless a producer wishes to increase the ELRP payment limitation. The Notification of Funding
Availability (NOFA) will be published in the Federal Register to provide the eligibility
requirements and payment calculation for the first phase of ELRP assistance. FSA expects
approximately 300 producers receiving increased payment limitation payments under ELRP
phase 1.
FSA needs to collect the following information from applicants:
•
FSA-510, Request for an Exception to the $125,000 Payment Limitation for
certain programs; and
•
CCC-860, Socially Disadvantaged, Limited Resource, Beginning and Veteran
Farmer or Rancher Certification.
We are requesting emergency approval of a new information collection package by April 1, 2022,
to quickly provide assistance to ELRP producers. If there are any questions or concerns, please
call Deirdre Holder at 202-205-5851 or Mary Ann Ball.