COVID Relief
The Iowa Department of Agriculture says it euthanized roughly 1.3 million chickens after Pure Prairie Poultry said in late September it could no longer afford to buy feed for the company’s flock across 14 Iowa farms.
The Emergency Relief Program (ERP) Phase 2 has dispersed $2.015 million, eclipsing the $2 million threshold. However, these disbursements are much lower than what USDA had projected for this program.
“We don’t need to rewrite the entire farm bill,” Rep. Thompson (R-Pa.) says. “We’re comfortable with many parts of the 2018 bill and there aren’t many tweaks, instead things we need to protect and invest in.”
This round is for those who were delinquent on a direct loan as of Sept. 2020, restricted a loan after Feb. 2020 through FSA, or those who owe more interest on a direct loan than the level of the principal.
A Senate Ag Committee hearing Thursday on the new farm bill raised a issue that is now evident: the Title 1 farm bill safety net can no longer deal with the current ag environment.
