Emergency Commodity Assistance Program Sign up begins March 19

The Farm Service Agency is issuing a notice in the Federal Register announcing the funding for the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP), which will provide economic assistance payments to eligible producers of eligible commodities for the 2024 crop year. ECAP is a new FSA program authorized by the American Relief Act, 2025. This notice also announces the eligibility (commodities, acres, producers, and losses), payment calculations, payment limitations, and how to apply (pre-filled application and any required adjustments) for ECAP.

This document is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on March 19, 2025, and available online at https://federalregister.gov/d/2025-04604, and on https://govinfo.gov (Pub. L. 118-158) and administered by FSA. ECAP will use up to $10 billion to issue one-time economic assistance payments to eligible producers of eligible commodities for the 2024 crop year. These payments are intended to help farmers cope with losses from natural disasters and a difficult farm economy, and will help preserve family farms and ranches across the country while also continuing to ensure food and agricultural security for our nation.

Eligible commodities include barley, canola, crambe, corn, dry peas, extra-long staple cotton, flax, large chickpeas, mustard, lentils, oats, peanuts, rapeseed, rice, safflower, sesame, small chickpeas, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower, upland cotton, and wheat. The payment rate for peanuts is $75.51 per acre.

Farmers can sign up on the FSA website on March 19 at https://www.fsa.usda.gov/ecap. Applications must be submitted by Aug. 15, 2025.

For more information, farmers need to contact their local FSA office.