Oklahoma is clearly number one- and it is not even close, at least when you are considering the payments received by ranchers across the country for the Livestock Forage Program. The LFP is one of four disaster programs that were not fully funded by the 2008 Farm Law- and expired a full year before the rest of the bill. Under the leadership of House Ag Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, these programs were reinstated and made permanent- and USDA began sign up for these programs April 15th.
Ranchers were able to make claims under the LFP program back to October first of 2011- and more than a half billion dollars has been paid to Oklahoma producers since mid April. That is far and away the most that has been paid out in any single state. Over $2.5 billion has been paid to ranchers nationally for the three fiscal years, with program sign up open until January 30, 2015.
The top states for total LFP payments(through the end of August) include the following:
Oklahoma $553,402,833
Texas $326,625,954
Nebraska $242,818,553
Missouri $219,045,339
Kansas $207,960,205.
The persistant drought over the last three years can be seen in the payments made to Oklahoma producers, with Fiscal Year 2012 payments totalling $211 million, Fiscal Yerar 2013 payments at over $209 million and fiscal year 2014 at $132 million. (To see a complete rundown of the payments nationally, click on the PDF link at the bottom of this story.)
To be eligible for disaster assistance programs under the 2014 Farm Bill, producers are no longer required to purchase crop insurance or NAP coverage, which was the risk management purchase mandate under the 2008 Farm Bill.
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