Section 20 022 022 - EMERGENCY LIVESTOCK FEED PROGRAM RULESSection 1 GENERAL1.1 Purpose The emergency livestock feed program is intended to provide funds to pay for purchases of feed to maintain herds in a county declared or certified to have suffered a natural disaster. The farmer must demonstrate at least a 20% total loss on all farming operations compared to historical farm average crop production.1.2 Authority 6 V.S.A. Section 19 and Section 1(10). Section 2 DEFINITIONS 2.1 Animal Unit means 1,000 pounds of live body weight of livestock. Animal units are calculated by adding the following numbers: the number of slaughter and feeder cattle multiplied by 1.0, plus the number of mature dairy cattle multiplied by 1.4, plus the number of replacement dairy cattle multiplied by 0.6, plus the number of goats multiplied by 0.1, plus the number of sheep multiplied by 0.1 for any individual farm operation.2.2 Commissioner means the Commissioner of Agriculture, Food and Markets.2.3 Department means the Department of Agriculture, Food and Markets.2.4 FSA means the "Farm Service Agency" of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.2.5 Livestock for purposes of this regulation means cattle, sheep and goats.2.6 Natural Disaster means excessive precipitation or drought conditions as determined by a Presidential Declaration of Disaster or a Certification by a Qualified Agency that a county wide loss of at least 25% of feed grain crops or forages has been experienced.2.7 Qualified Agency means an agency of the state or federal government, or the University of Vermont Extension with experience and knowledge in assessing feed grain crop and forage yields.Section 3 EMERGENCY LIVESTOCK FEED PROGRAM3.1 Emergency livestock feed payment rates will be calculated based on the availability of federal and state funds appropriated for that purpose. Payments will be distributed as grants to eligible applicants based upon an equalized formula to distribute all appropriated funds as determined by the number of eligible applicants, and the percentage of individual crop losses compared to the total amount of available funds appropriated.3.2 Applicants shall submit producer information in an application that shall include as necessary in the format: (a) a detailed livestock inventory(b) a detailed feed inventory(c) a description of relevant livestock sales and purchases(d) a detailed description of feed purchases(e) a detailed estimate of crop losses per field(f) the number of farm locations(g) a certification as to the accuracy of application3.3 The total of all needs from all applicants as calculated from information in section 3.2 will be used to calculate the payment rate as set forth in section 3.1. No grant shall be made in excess of $ 30,000.3.4 The Department shall develop an application form that shall be designed to respond to the individual circumstances of each natural disaster for which funds are made available.3.5 The Department shall consult UVM Extension and local feed suppliers to establish average values for feed grain crops and forages.3.6 Application forms shall include a date by which completed applications must be submitted to the Department.Section 4 ENFORCEMENT4.1 Any applicant who falsifies records to receive an award under this regulation may be issued an administrative penalty under 6 V.S.A. Section 15 and be required to repay the grant amount in full. In order to collect this penalty, the Commissioner may seek remedies under all the powers granted pursuant to 6 V.S.A.Section 5 APPEALS5.1 Any applicant seeking emergency livestock feed assistance who is aggrieved by a final decision may appeal to the Commissioner solely on the facts used to determine the grant amount. The amount of any individual grant is not appealable.20-022 Code Vt. R. 20-022-022-X
Effective Date: March 28, 2000 (Secretary of State Rule Log #00-17)Statutory Authority: 6 V.S.A. §§ 1(10) and 19