A program that was announced under the Trump Administration is now open again for farmers. The second round of Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP 2) restarted April 5. The program is part of the Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative, and farmers have 60 days to either apply or make modifications to their existing CFAP 2 applications.
Farm Journal Washington Correspondent Jim Wiesemeyer says other details include:
- CFAP updates include an increase in CFAP 1 payments for cattle and will total more than $1.1 billion for over 410,000 producers.
- An additional CFAP 2 payment of $20 per acre for producers of eligible flat-rate or price-triggered crops will total more than $4.5 billion to over 560,000 producers.
- USDA will also process eligible payments for CFAP Additional Assistance (CFAP-AA) and will finalize routine decisions and minor formula adjustment on applications and begin processing payments for certain applications filed for the program.
- USDA also said it would earmark at least $6 billion for new programs using funding from the Consolidated Appropriations Act approved in December.
Wiesemeyer also pointed out USDA didn’t outline how that $6 billion will be dispersed; the agency only provided a broad list of commodities that will be targeted. Producers who are eligible to participate in the program include dairy farmers, producers of euthanized livestock and poultry, specialty crop producers, beginning farmers and also urban and organic farmers. In addition, the new program includes biofuel producers who haven’t been included in past CFAP programs.
USDA is also working to help socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. $2 million has been set aside for that effort, and USDA is accepting proposals to provide outreach and technical assistance that may be needed.
In January, USDA posted a notice on its website stating the $2.3 billion in supplemental Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) payments would be temporarily frozen. The statement said:
“In accordance with the White House memo, Regulatory Freeze Pending Review, USDA has suspended the processing and payments under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program - Additional Assistance and has halted implementation until further notice. FSA local offices will continue to accept applications during the evaluation period,” said a notice on the USDA CFAP page.
Here’s a link to apply for the revised CFAP2.
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