More than 13,000 producers have applied for more than $9.4 million in Livestock Forage Disaster Program payments since the Agriculture Department began accepting applications on April 15 and more than $4 million has already been disbursed, USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber said today.

Testifying before a House Agriculture subcommittee hearing on the state of the livestock industry, Glauber said that retroactive livestock disaster payments for losses that have occurred since the expiration of the livestock disaster assistance programs for 2012 and 2013 are expected to total more than $2 billion.

That covers the Livestock Forage Disaster Program, the Livestock Indemnity Program and the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program.

Glauber noted that losses due to porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) are not qualified for benefits under the livestock disaster programs because the law limits those benefits to weather-related losses.

The livestock disaster assistance programs expired in 2011, but were reauthorized in the 2014 farm bill, and livestock operators who experienced losses in 2012 and 2013 have the right to apply for assistance.

Further details on the assistance programs can be found in Glauber’s testimony.

▪ Statement of Dr. Joseph Glauber before the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Rural Development and Credit