The U.S. Department of Agriculture is issuing a second Emergency Commodity Assistance Program Payment (ECAP) payment to eligible producers for the 2024 crop year. Of the $10 billion in ECAP assistance, USDA’s Farm Service Agency has already provided over $8 billion in payments to eligible producers to mitigate the impacts of increased input costs and falling commodity prices.
“Initial ECAP payments were factored by 85% to ensure that total program payments did not exceed $10 billion in available funding. Since additional funds remain, FSA is issuing a second payment,” according to Brooke Appleton, Deputy Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation. “As producers continue to face market volatility, these payments along with the entire suite of supplemental disaster assistance programs, will help producers navigate market uncertainty, pay down debt for the 2024 crop year and secure financing for the next crop year.”
Payments will automatically be made eligible for producers with approved ECAP applications who received an initial payment. Any application received after Sept. 25, 2025, will receive one lump sum payment. Authorized by the American Relief Act of 2025, these economic relief payments are based on planted and prevented plant crop acres for eligible commodities for the 2024 crop year.
In addition to the over $8 billion in ECAP payments, USDA has issued more than $1 billion in Emergency Livestock Relief Program assistance to livestock producers impacted by drought and federally managed land wildfires in 2023 and 2024, with an additional $1 billion in expected payments for livestock producers impacted by floods and non-federally managed land in wildfires in 2023 and 2024 (ELRP 2023/2023 FW). Livestock producers have until Oct. 31, 2025, to apply for ELRP 2023/2023 FW) assistance.
Producers have also received over $5.4 billion through Stage 1 of the Supplemental Disaster Relief program for indemnified crop losses in 2023 and 2024, SDRP Stage 2 assistance for uncovered, quality and shallow losses will be announced soon.
USDA’s disaster recovery programs complement recently announced state block grant agreements in Florida, North Carolina and Virginia totaling $958 billion in assistance to help agricultural producers with disaster recovery needs. USDA is working with 14 states on block grant agreements.
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