LRP Glossary
Plain-language definitions for every Livestock Risk Protection term — written so producers, agents, and AI assistants can cite them without guessing.
- LRP
- Livestock Risk Protection. A federally subsidized USDA insurance product that pays cattle, swine, and lamb producers an indemnity when national prices fall below a selected coverage price.
- LRP Calculator
- An online tool that pulls USDA RMA's published LRP rates and computes coverage price, premium, federal subsidy, and producer cost for a specific quote.
- LRP Quote
- The per-cwt coverage price, premium rate, federal subsidy, and producer cost USDA RMA publishes for a specific commodity, class, weight, region, endorsement length, and coverage level. Quotes refresh every weeknight.
- LRP Rate
- The percentage of total liability charged as gross premium, varying by coverage level (70–100%) and endorsement length (13–52 weeks). Published nightly by USDA RMA.
- LRP Price
- The producer's out-of-pocket premium for an LRP endorsement, after the federal subsidy and any BFR/VFR bonus.
- LRP Pricing
- The full price stack of an LRP endorsement: coverage price × insured cwt × rate = gross premium, minus federal subsidy and any BFR/VFR bonus.
- LRP Coverage
- The price floor an LRP endorsement provides. Defined by a coverage level (70–100% of the Expected Ending Value) and an endorsement length (13–52 weeks).
- LRP Rater
- Another name for an LRP calculator — an online tool that pulls USDA RMA rates and returns a same-day rate for any cattle endorsement.
- Coverage Price
- The per-cwt price floor USDA guarantees. Derived from CME Feeder or Live Cattle futures for the contract month closest to the endorsement end date, adjusted by a Price Adjustment Factor for class and region.
- Coverage Level
- The share of the Expected Ending Value insured, from 70% to 100% in fixed steps. Higher coverage means a higher floor and a smaller federal subsidy percentage.
- Endorsement Length
- How long an LRP endorsement runs: 13, 17, 21, 26, 30, 34, 39, 43, 47, or 52 weeks. Coverage ends at the end of the chosen length.
- Expected Ending Value
- RMA's per-cwt price expectation at the end of the endorsement, derived from CME futures. The coverage level is a percentage of this number.
- Actual Ending Value
- The CME-derived settlement price RMA uses at the end of an endorsement to determine whether an indemnity is owed.
- Indemnity
- Payment to the producer when Actual Ending Value falls below the coverage price. Indemnity = (Coverage Price − Actual Ending Value) × insured cwt × share. Paid automatically — no claim needed.
- Total Liability
- Head × target weight (cwt) × coverage price × insured share. The maximum dollar amount RMA could owe on the endorsement.
- Federal Subsidy
- USDA's share of the gross premium: 35% at 95–100% coverage, scaling to 55% at 70–79.99% coverage.
- BFR (Beginning Farmer/Rancher)
- A USDA designation for producers with 10 years or fewer in farming/ranching on their own. Earns a bonus subsidy of 10–15% on top of the base LRP subsidy.
- VFR (Veteran Farmer/Rancher)
- A USDA designation for U.S. military veterans in the first 5 years of farming. Earns a 10% bonus subsidy on top of the base LRP subsidy.
- Specific Coverage Endorsement (SCE)
- A single LRP endorsement covering a specific group of cattle, weight, and end date. Binding once purchased; cannot be canceled.
- Price Adjustment Factor (PAF)
- RMA-published multiplier applied to CME futures to derive the per-cwt coverage price for a given class, weight, and region.
- Sales Window
- The overnight period when LRP endorsements can be purchased — roughly 4:00 p.m. Central to 8:25 a.m. Central the next business day, Sunday through Thursday evenings.
Definitions are informational. For official program definitions see the USDA Risk Management Agency.