USDA - Missouri State Office Newsletter - September 17, 2025.
In This Issue:
Assistance for losses due to flooding and wildfire on non-federally managed land
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced eligible livestock producers will receive disaster recovery assistance through the Emergency Livestock Relief Program for 2023 and 2024 Flood and Wildfire (ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW) to help offset increased supplemental feed costs due to a qualifying flood or qualifying wildfire in calendar years 2023 and 2024. The program is expected to provide approximately $1 billion in recovery benefits. Sign-up begins on Monday, September 15. Livestock producers have until October 31, 2025, to apply for assistance.
Qualifying Disaster Events
To streamline program delivery, FSA has determined eligible counties with qualifying floods and qualifying wildfires in 2023 and 2024. For losses in these counties, livestock producers are not required to submit supporting documentation for floods or wildfires. A list of approved counties is available at fsa.usda.gov/elrp.
For losses in counties not listed as eligible, livestock producers can apply for ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW but must provide supporting documentation to demonstrate that a qualifying flood or qualifying wildfire occurred in the county where the livestock were physically located or would have been physically located if not for the disaster event. FSA county committees will determine if the disaster event meets program requirements.
Acceptable documentation includes:
- Photographs documenting impact to livestock, land, or property
- Insurance documentation
- Emergency declaration reports
- News articles
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration storm event database records
- Other FSA disaster program participation records
- Other documentation determined acceptable by the FSA county committee
Livestock and Producer Eligibility
For ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW, FSA is using covered livestock criteria similar to the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) which includes weaned beef cattle, dairy cattle, beefalo, buffalo, bison, alpacas, deer, elk, emus, equine, goats, llamas, ostriches, reindeer, and sheep.
Wildfire assistance is available on non-federally managed land to participants who did not receive assistance through LFP or the ELRP 2023 and 2024 for drought and wildfire program delivered to producers in July of this year.
When producers submit their application, they must provide documentation to support eligible livestock inventories as of the beginning date of the qualifying disaster event.
Livestock producers can receive assistance for one or both years, 2023 and 2024, and for multiple qualifying disaster events, if applicable. However, producers cannot exceed three months of assistance per producer, physical location county, and program year.
Payment Calculation
Eligible producers can receive up to 60% of one month of calculated feed costs for a qualifying wildfire or three months for a qualifying flood using the same monthly feed cost calculation that is used for LFP.
ELRP 2023 and 2024 for drought and wildfire and ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW have a combined payment limit of $125,000 for each program year. Producers who already received the maximum payment amount from ELRP 2023 and 2024 for drought and wildfire will not be eligible to receive an additional payment under ELRP 2023 and 2024 FW. Eligible producers may submit form FSA-510, Request for an Exception to the $125,000 Payment Limitation for Certain Programs, to be considered for an increased payment limit of $250,000.
Supplemental Disaster Assistance Timeline
USDA is fully committed to expediting remaining disaster assistance provided by the American Relief Act, 2025. On May 7, we launched our 2023/2024 Supplemental Disaster Assistance public landing page where the status of USDA disaster assistance and block grant rollout timeline can be tracked. The page is updated regularly and accessible through fsa.usda.gov. Contact your local FSA county office for more information.
Successful 2025 enrollment for CRP’s many enrollment options
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced acceptance of 1.78 million acres into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) through 2025 General, Continuous, Grassland, and Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program enrollments.
According to USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), about 25.8 million acres are currently enrolled in CRP, the agency’s flagship conservation program through which landowners, farmers and ranchers voluntarily convert marginal or unproductive cropland into vegetative cover that improves water quality, prevents erosion, restores wildlife habitat and in the case of Grassland CRP, enables participants to conserve grasslands while also continuing most grazing and haying practices.
FSA received offers on more than 2.6 million acres. The program’s total acreage is capped at 27 million acres for fiscal year 2025 of which 1.8 million was available for enrollment, after offsetting for expiring acres and an administrative reserve, making for a highly competitive process for those who submitted offers for CRP.
About 955,795 acres are expiring Sept. 30 this year. Producers submitted re-enrollment offers for just over 624,000 acres and offers for enrollment of new land totaled 2 million acres.
Kansas, South Dakota and Colorado hold the top three slots for accepted acres for all 2025 CRP enrollment opportunities.
The American Relief Act, 2025, extended provisions for CRP through Sept. 30, 2025.
The Missouri Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Acting State Conservationist Nate Goodrich has announced Oct. 3, 2025, as the cut-off date to apply for the next available funding opportunity in Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 for Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) Classic and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Initiatives.
“NRCS can help producers develop a conservation plan that meets their goals and can often help with financial assistance to implement management and structural practices in their conservation plan,” said Acting Assistant State Conversationist for Programs Lauren Cartwright.
Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
Click here to learn about program specifics: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/nrcs/missouri/news/nrcs-missouri-announces-application-deadline-for-fy26-csp-classic-and-eqip
Applications can be turned in to NRCS Missouri USDA Service Centers. To locate an office near you, visit farmers.gov/service-locator. Applications are accepted year-round, but applications MUST be received in your local service center by 4 p.m. on Friday, Oct.3, 2025, to be considered for funding for this initial batching period.
For more information about NRCS programs and assistance, visit the NRCS Missouri website or contact your local service center. NRCS employees in county offices can provide more information about programs and how to apply.
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Farm Service Agency (FSA) loans require applicants to have a satisfactory credit history. A credit report is requested for all FSA direct farm loan applicants. These reports are reviewed to verify outstanding debts, see if bills are paid timely and to determine the impact on cash flow.
Information on your credit report is strictly confidential and is used only as an aid in conducting FSA business.
Our farm loan staff will discuss options with you if you have an unfavorable credit report and will provide a copy of your report. If you dispute the accuracy of the information on the credit report, it is up to you to contact the issuing credit report company to resolve any errors or inaccuracies.
There are multiple ways to remedy an unfavorable credit score:
- Make sure to pay bills on time
- Setting up automatic payments or automated reminders can be an effective way to remember payment due dates.
- Pay down existing debt
- Keep your credit card balances low
- Avoid suddenly opening or closing existing credit accounts
FSA’s farm loan staff will guide you through the process, which may require you to reapply for a loan after improving or correcting your credit report.
For more information on FSA farm loan programs, contact your local County USDA Service Center or visit fsa.usda.gov.
Deadline September 30th
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Missouri invites qualifying farmers and landowners to apply to receive technical and financial assistance through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). Funding is available for one regional partnership project. Applications must be received by December 31, 2025 to be considered for this round of funding.
The RCPP project and associated counties are:
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Sand Prairie Restoration Partnership Program (Butler, Dunklin, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Scott, and Stoddard counties): This project focuses on the restoration and protection of sand prairie communities on private land through voluntary perpetual easements. Perpetual easements will help protect this critically endangered native community, providing essential habitat for multiple threatened and endangered species. The Missouri Department of Conservation is the lead partner on this project.
RCPP promotes coordination of NRCS conservation activities with partners that offer value-added contributions to expand our collective ability to address on-farm, watershed, and regional natural resource concerns. Through RCPP, NRCS seeks to co-invest with partners to implement projects that demonstrate innovative solutions to conservation challenges and provide measurable improvements and outcomes tied to resource concerns they seek to address.
Individuals and entities are eligible to participate in RCPP. RCPP offers a continuous application sign-up. However, to be considered for this round of funding, applications must be received by December 31, 2025 or before funds are expended. Applicants can sign-up by contacting their local USDA-NRCS Field Office.
For more information, contact your local Field Office at Find Your Local Service Center | Farmers.gov. To learn more about RCPP, visit our website Regional Conservation Partnership Program | Natural Resources Conservation Service.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reminds agricultural producers that the final date to apply for or make changes to their existing crop insurance coverage is quickly approaching for fall planted crops. Sales closing dates vary by crop and location, but the next major sales closing date is Sept. 30.
Producers are encouraged to visit their crop insurance agent soon to learn specific details for the 2026 crop year. Crop insurance coverage decisions must be made on or before the applicable sales closing date. The USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) lists sales closing dates in the Actuarial Information Browser, under the “Dates” tab.
Producers can also access the RMA Map Viewer tool to visualize the insurance program date choices for acreage reporting, cancellation, contract change, earliest planting, end of insurance, end of late planting period, final planting, premium billing, production reporting, sales closing, and termination dates, when applicable, per commodity, insurance plan, type, and practice. Additionally, producers can access the RMA Information Reporting System tool to specifically identify applicable dates for their operation, using the “Insurance Offer Reports” application.
Federal crop insurance is critical to the farm safety net. It helps producers and owners manage revenue risks and strengthens the rural economy. Producers may select from several coverage options, including yield coverage, revenue protection, and area risk plans of insurance.
Crop insurance options include Whole-Farm Revenue Protection and Micro Farm. Whole-Farm Revenue Protection provides a risk management safety net for all commodities on the farm under one insurance policy and is available in all counties nationwide. Micro Farm aims to help direct market and small-scale producers that may sell locally, and this policy simplifies record keeping and covers post-production costs such as washing and value-added products.
Crop insurance is sold and delivered solely through private crop insurance agents. A list of crop insurance agents is available online at the RMA Agent Locator. Producers can learn more about crop insurance and the modern farm safety net at rma.usda.gov or by contacting their RMA Regional Office. RMA’s Basics for Beginners provides information for those new to crop insurance.
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MISSOURI - USDA
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Service Center Locator
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FARM SERVICE AGENCY (FSA)
601 Business Loop 70 West, Suite 225 Columbia, MO 65203
Phone: 573-876-0925
Fax: 855-830-0680
fsa.usda.gov
State Executive Director
Vacant
Deputy State Executive Director
Jeremy Mosely
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NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION SERVICE (NRCS)
601 Business Loop 70 West, Suite 250 Columbia, MO 65203
Phone: 573-876-0901
Fax: 855-865-2188
nrcs.usda.gov
State Conservationist
Scott Edwards
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USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
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