12.01.21

Hoeven Continues Efforts to Assist Livestock Producers Affected by Drought

Hoeven Joins Thune and Tester in Urging USDA to Address ELAP Coverage Gap

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today joined Senators John Thune (R-S.D.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) in urging U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) Administrator Zach Ducheneaux to address a gap in coverage under the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP). In September, after Hoeven advocated for the change, USDA announced it would provide ELAP assistance for the cost of transporting feed to livestock. Still, producers who are transporting their livestock to feed are not currently eligible for the program.

“[W]e continue to hear from producers who have been severely affected by drought this year and have incurred costs related to transporting their livestock to feed sources instead of hauling feed to their livestock,” the senators wrote. “Under current regulations, these producers are not eligible for ELAP transportation assistance. We respectfully request that FSA exercise its authority to further improve ELAP by providing payments to producers for a portion of the costs they have incurred from transporting their livestock to feed sources.”

The letter was also signed by U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Tina Smith (D- Minn.). The text of the letter can be found here.

As the ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, Hoeven worked to secure $750 million specifically for livestock producers as part of the $10 billion ag disaster assistance approved by Congress in September. Recently, the senator held a roundtable with livestock producers and FSA Administrator Ducheneaux in Dickinson, providing ranchers the opportunity to give direct input to the FSA. The senator has worked to permanently expand ELAP to provide producers impacted by severe drought with 60% reimbursement of their feed transportation costs above what would have been incurred in a normal year. 

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