- May 16, 2022
- Posted by: Daniel Lefstad
- Category: News
Emergency Relief Program (ERP) Update
5/17/2022
The details of the ERP (Emergency Relief Program, previously known as Whip+) were released yesterday afternoon. After contacting the state FSA office on a few questions we had, here is what we know to date:
- Eligible crops include all crops for which crop insurance or NAP coverage was available, except for crops intended for grazing.
- Qualifying natural disaster events include wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, excessive heat, winter storms, freeze (including a polar vortex), smoke exposure, excessive moisture, qualifying drought, and related conditions.
For drought, ERP assistance is available if any area within the county (see listing for MN/ND counties below) in which the loss occurred was rated by the U.S. Drought Monitor as having a:
- D2 (severe drought) for eight consecutive weeks; or
- D3 (extreme drought) or higher level of drought intensity.
For Phase 1, FSA will send pre-filled application forms to producers that had received a crop insurance or NAP indemnity payment. It is our understanding based off information we have received, that if you had EU (enterprise units) and received an indemnity for one crop but not the other, you will only be able to apply for the crop that received the indemnity payment. You will be able to apply for the non-indemnity crops during Phase 2. The same would be true if you had optional units with payable MPCI claims on some units, the non-loss units would have to wait until Phase 2. From our understanding, these forms will include an ERP payment by unit but will not show you how it is calculated. Feel free to give us a call to run your calculations to ensure that you are getting the correct ERP payment. Producers will need to return completed and signed ERP Phase 1 applications to their local FSA county office by 7/22/22 deadline.
According to the USDA Fact Sheet (and confirmed by the FSA state office), the ERP payments will be calculated based on the producer’s MPCI type and level of coverage for a crop and/or unit of a crop. This is good news and what we were asking for from our legislators in our “call-to-action” email to you last fall as it would account for the increase in the harvest price in the ERP calculation. This calculated ERP payment amount will be adjusted by subtracting the net crop insurance indemnity, which is equal to the producer’s gross crop insurance indemnity received less any service fees and premiums. This is a change from the previous WHIP program as premium was not taken into consideration. From our understanding, net indemnities subtracted would also include any SCO or ECO indemnities for producer’s that purchased those products in 2020/2021.
The ERP Factors are similar to the 2018/2019 WHIP+ program and are shown on the below table:
| Crop Insurance Level | ERP Factor (Percent) |
| Catastrophic coverage | 75.0% |
| More than catastrophic coverage but less than 55 percent | 80.0% |
| At least 55 percent but less than 60 percent | 82.5% |
| At least 60 percent but less than 65 percent | 85.0% |
| At least 65 percent but less than 70 percent | 87.5% |
| At least 70 percent but less than 75 percent | 90.0% |
| At least 75 percent but less than 80 percent | 92.5% |
| At least 80 percent | 95.0% |
The ERP Phase 1 payments for crops covered by crop insurance will be prorated by 75 percent to ensure that total ERP payments, including payments under ERP Phase 2, do not exceed the available funding. If you are a beginning farmer, socially disadvantaged, or limited resource farmer, you will receive 15% more of the calculated payment. A CCC-860 will need to be filed with your local FSA office certifying that you qualify. For a producer to qualify under the Beginning Farmer or Rancher on the CCC-860 form, they must not have farmed more than 10 years. Producer’s that have farmed less than 10 years that are a partner of an entity (ie Partnerships, JVs or LLP etc) will want to make sure they have completed the CCC-860 too.
For payment limitations, if at least 75% of the person or entities average AGI is derived from farming, the person is eligible to received up to $900,000 for each program year for specialty crops and $250,000 for each program year for all other crops. If less than 75% of the person/entity average AGI is derived from farming, the limitations are $125,000 for specialty crops and $125,000 for other crops for each program year.
All producer’s receiving an ERP payment must purchase crop insurance at a 60% or greater level for insurable crops for the next 2 crop years. The final crop year to purchase insurance coverage to meet the second year of coverage for this requirement is the 2026 crop year.
Feel free to contact us with any questions or if you want to verify the payment calculation on your ERP application.
2020 Eligible Co due to drought:
Minnesota: Rock County
North Dakota: Benson County, Bottineau County, Burke County, Burleigh County, Cavalier County, Divide County, Dunn County, Eddy County, Emmons County, Foster County, Kidder County, LaMoure County, Logan County, McHenry County, McKenzie County, McLean County, Mercer County, Morton County, Mountrail County, Oliver County, Pierce County, Ramsey County, Renville County, Rolette County, Sheridan County, Stutsman County, Towner County, Ward County, Wells County, Williams County
2021 Eligible Counties due to drought:
Minnesota: Aitkin County, Anoka County, Becker County, Beltrami County, Benton County, Big Stone County, Blue Earth County, Brown County, Carlton County, Cass County, Chippewa County, Clay County, Clearwater County, Cook County, Cottonwood County, Crow Wing County, Douglas County, Faribault County, Freeborn County, Grant County, Hennepin County, Hubbard County, Isanti County, Itasca County, Jackson County, Kandiyohi County, Kittson County, Koochiching County, Lac qui Parle County, Lake County, Lake of the Woods County, Lincoln County, Lyon County, McLeod County, Mahnomen County, Marshall County, Martin County, Meeker County, Mille Lacs County, Morrison County, Mower County, Murray County, Nicollet County, Nobles County, Norman County, Otter Tail County, Pennington County, Pipestone County, Polk County, Pope County, Red Lake County, Redwood County, Renville County, Rock County, Roseau County, Saint Louis County, Sherburne County, Sibley County, Stearns County, Stevens County, Swift County, Todd County, Wadena County, Watonwan County, Wilkin County, Wright County, Yellow Medicine County
North Dakota: Adams County, Barnes County, Benson County, Billings County, Bottineau County, Bowman County, Burke County, Burleigh County, Cass County, Cavalier County, Dickey County, Divide County, Dunn County, Eddy County, Emmons County, Foster County, Golden Valley County, Grand Forks County, Grant County, Griggs County, Hettinger County, Kidder County, LaMoure County, Logan County, McHenry County, McIntosh County, McKenzie County, McLean County, Mercer County, Morton County, Mountrail County, Nelson County, Oliver County, Pembina County, Pierce County, Ramsey County, Ransom County, Renville County, Richland County, Rolette County, Sargent County, Sheridan County, Sioux County, Slope County, Stark County, Steele County, Stutsman County, Towner County, Traill County, Walsh County, Ward County, Wells County, Williams County
5/16/2022
Senator John Hoeven announced today that signup for the ERP program (formerly known as the WHIP+ program) will begin in May for the $9.25 billion in row crop assistance with funds to start going out to producers in June. Additional details:
- Keep your eye out for an FSA pre-filled applications for phase 1 of the ERP program that will be sent out this month.
- The information on application will be pre-filled with your crop insurance data and producers will receive an application for each year in which an eligible loss occurred in the 2020 & 2021 crop year.
- Producers will need to return signed application to their local FSA office by date specified on application.
We will provide more program details once they become available to us.
To see Senator Hoeven’s full Release please visit:
Pandemic Cover Crop Program (PCCP) Signup Deadline
All 2022 spring planted cover crops must be reported to FSA by May 31st to receive the $5/acre credit towards your MPCI crop insurance premium.
Staff at ProAg Service & Insurance
ProAg Service & Insurance
2417 US Hwy 59
Mahnomen, MN 56557
218.935.2700 (office)
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