USDA Leader Says Farmers Can Expect CFAP Round Two Next Month
When farmers applied for relief payments through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), farmers were only guaranteed 80% of the payment they were eligible for. According to Bill Northey, USDA’s undersecretary for farm production and conservation, farmers can expect to receive the remaining 20% by the end of August.
According to Agri-Pulse, Northey said there should be enough money on hand to give farmers the remaining 20% of what they are due under the $16 billion CFAP, by the time signup for the program ends Aug. 28.
"We'd like to be able to do it earlier than that," he said. "If we can look and see that we're going to have plenty of dollars yet, of course we haven't even announced the third group of commodities yet and we're still partway through signup."
Pro Farmer’s Jim Wiesemeyer said that as of July 6, $5.36 billion dollars in CFAP payments had been disbursed. The total includes $2.7 billion for livestock producers, $1.41 billion for non-specialty crops, $1.11 billion for dairy and $134.7 million for specialty crops.
CFAP 2.0
Northey says the USDA is awaiting direction from Congress on a new aid package. Analysts expect the next round of payments through the program to compensate farmers for losses that have occurred since mid-April. It seems that Northey expects Congress to allocate more aid for farmers.
"Congress has said very clearly that they recognize the losses are well beyond that $16 billion" being provided through CFAP, Northey said.
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