Message from the Wisconsin FSA State Executive Director

It’s great to get around the state to visit with FSA County Committees and FSA office staff. We appreciate your patience as we roll out several Supplemental Disaster Assistance programs that provide disaster recovery assistance and economic relief to farmers and livestock producers. Our FSA county offices remain busy assisting producers with these applications, but with these streamlined programs, I can assure you that applications and payments are moving quickly. 

Here is what FSA is working on now:

• FSA is taking applications for Stage 1 of the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program, which opened on July 10. Stage 1 is for producers with indemnified losses due to eligible weather events in 2023 and 2024. We are using a streamlined, prefilled application process, and applications were mailed in July. Producers can drop off the applications at the county office or put them in the mail.
• More information will be provided at a later date for Stage 2 of SDRP, which includes uncovered, shallow losses and quality losses.
•  In Wisconsin, Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) payments are being made primarily on corn, soybeans, oats and wheat. We’ve already approved close to 20,000 applications, so this is a reminder to those who haven’t submitted your application. ECAP payments are based on your 2024 planted and prevented planted acres.
• The Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) provides assistance for losses due to drought or wildfires in 2023 and 2024. Payments have already been issued to producers who have an approved Livestock Forage Disaster Program application on file for those years. A second round of ELRP will be announced at a later date for livestock producers impacted by flooding.
• Acreage reporting is mostly wrapped up around the state. Wisconsin FSA employees take more than a million crop reports every year!
• Grassland CRP signup runs through August 8. This program helps landowners protect grasslands, including for rangeland and pastureland, while maintaining the land for grazing.