GitHub Release DOI

FSA Annual County Eligibility Data from the Livestock Forage Disaster Program, 2008–2024

This repository is an archive of the annual county-level eligibility data for the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP).

The data in this repository were acquired via FOIA request 2025-FSA-08422-F by R. Kyle Bocinsky (Montana Climate Office) and fulfilled on August 7, 2025. This replaces previously filed and fulfilled FOIA response covering 2012–2022 (2023-FSA-00937-F) and 2008–2024 (2025-FSA-04690-F). All FOIA responses, including the original Excel workbooks, are archived in the foia directory.

🗂️ Contents

📥 Input Data: FOIA Excel Workbooks

The FOIA response contains LFP eligibility data from 2012 through July, 2025 for each pasture type, county, and program year. These have been supplemented with previously-received FOIA data (FOIA 2025-FSA-04690-F Bocinsky) that included eligibility determinations since 2008, but not many of the other variables requested. Each program year was delivered in individual Microsoft Excel files.

Column names and data can vary subtly by year. The processing workflow in fsa-lfp-eligibility.R harmonizes the files, and appends the 2008 through 2011 data from the earlier FOIA.

📤 Output Data: Cleaned CSV

The file fsa-lfp-eligibility.csv is a tidy dataset for analysis and visualization.

Variables in Output

Variable Name Description
FIPS State Code A two-digit FIPS state code
FIPS County Code A three-digit FIPS county code
FIPS State Name U.S. state
FIPS County Name County or county-equivalent name
FSA State Code A two-digit FSA state code (not always FIPS)
FSA County Code A three-digit FSA county code (not always FIPS)
FSA County Name County or county-equivalent name
Program Year Year the data applies to
Pasture Type Pasture classification (e.g., Native, Improved)
Disaster Type Type of disaster (e.g., Drought, Fire)
D2 START DATE:D4B END Start and end dates for qualifying drought events
Date of Qualifying Drought Start date of qualifying disaster
Drought Factor Qualifying payments given the drought severity
Grazing Period Start Date Start date of grazing period for the pasture type
Grazing Period End Date End date of grazing period for the pasture type
Maximum Eligible Payment Months Duration of grazing period, in months
Payment Factor Number of eligible payments
Note (FOIA 2025-FSA-04690-F Bocinsky) for 2008 through 2011, the qualifying drought type

📊 Demonstration Dashboard

The Quarto dashboard fsa-lfp-eligibility.qmd provides:

  • An interactive viewer to explore LFP Eligibility by county, year, disaster, and pasture type
  • A tool for researchers and policymakers to assess temporal trends

Access a full-screen version of the dashboard at:
https://sustainable-fsa.github.io/fsa-lfp-eligibility/fsa-lfp-eligibility.html

📍 Quick Start: Visualize a FSA LFP Eligibility Map in R

This snippet shows how to load the FSA LFP Eligibility file from the archive and create a simple map using sf and ggplot2.

# Load required libraries
library(sf)
library(ggplot2) # For plotting
library(tigris)  # For state boundaries
library(rmapshaper) # For innerlines function

## Get the LFP Eligibility data
eligibility <- 
  readr::read_csv("fsa-lfp-eligibility.csv")

counties <- 
  tigris::counties(cb = TRUE, 
                   resolution = "5m",
                   progress_bar = FALSE) |>
  dplyr::filter(
    !(STATE_NAME %in% c("Guam", 
                        "American Samoa", 
                        "United States Virgin Islands", 
                        "Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands"))
  ) |>
  sf::st_cast("POLYGON", warn = FALSE, do_split = TRUE) |>
  tigris::shift_geometry() |>
  dplyr::group_by(STATEFP, COUNTYFP) |>
  dplyr::summarise(.groups = "drop") |>
  sf::st_cast("MULTIPOLYGON")

## Calculate the 2024 LFP Eligibility for Native Pasture, and
## combine with the county data
eligibility_counties <-
  eligibility |>
  dplyr::filter(`Pasture Type` == "Native Pasture",
                `Program Year` == 2024) |>
  dplyr::transmute(
    id = paste0(`FIPS State Code`, `FIPS County Code`),
    `Payment Factor` = factor(`Payment Factor`,
                            levels = 1:5,
                            ordered = TRUE)
  ) |>
  dplyr::left_join(
    counties |>
      dplyr::transmute(id = paste0(STATEFP, COUNTYFP))
    ) |>
  sf::st_as_sf()

# Plot the map
ggplot(counties) +
  geom_sf(data = sf::st_union(counties),
          fill = "grey80",
          color = NA) +
  geom_sf(data = eligibility_counties,
          aes(fill = `Payment Factor`), 
          color = NA,
          show.legend = TRUE) +
  geom_sf(data = rmapshaper::ms_innerlines(counties),
          fill = NA,
          color = "white",
          linewidth = 0.1) +
  geom_sf(data = counties |>
            dplyr::group_by(STATEFP) |>
            dplyr::summarise() |>
            rmapshaper::ms_innerlines(),
          fill = NA,
          color = "white",
          linewidth = 0.2) +
  # Use the same color scale used by the LFP
  # https://www.fsa.usda.gov/documents/native-pasture-2024-lfp-01-23-25
  scale_fill_manual(
    values = c("1" = "#E0E436", 
               "2" = "#DF9114", 
               "3" = "#DD2313", 
               "4" = "#850014", 
               "5" = "#3B003C"),
    drop = FALSE,
    name = "Payment\nMonths") +
  labs(title = "FSA LFP Eligibility",
       subtitle = "Native Pasture — 2024") +
  theme_void()

📜 Citation

If using this data in published work, please cite:

USDA Farm Service Agency. Livestock Forage Disaster Program Eligibility, 2008–2024. FOIA request 2025-FSA-08422-F by R. Kyle Bocinsky. Accessed via GitHub archive, YYYY. https://sustainable-fsa.github.io/fsa-lfp-eligibility/

📄 License

  • Raw FOIA data (USDA): Public Domain (17 USC § 105)
  • Processed data & scripts: © R. Kyle Bocinsky, released under CC0 and MIT License as applicable

⚠️ Disclaimer

This dataset is archived for research and educational use only. It may not reflect current USDA administrative boundaries or official LFP policy. Always consult your local FSA office for the latest program guidance.

To locate your nearest USDA Farm Service Agency office, use the USDA Service Center Locator:

🔗 USDA Service Center Locator

👏 Acknowledgment

This project is part of:

Enhancing Sustainable Disaster Relief in FSA Programs
Supported by USDA OCE/OEEP and USDA Climate Hubs
Prepared by the Montana Climate Office

✉️ Contact

Questions? Contact Kyle Bocinsky: kyle.bocinsky@umontana.edu