AFBF hopes Congress passes more virus relief before Christmas

by | Dec 18, 2020 | 5 Ag Stories, News

The Ag industry is seeking much-needed virus relief before Christmas.

Reports on Friday indicated congressional leaders were scrambling to get a $900 billion relief deal finalized before the holidays. Andrew Walmsley with the American Farm Bureau Federation recently said billions of dollars for agriculture would assist not just those helped already, but many farmers who have not benefited from some $30 billion in earlier aid.

?I think we?re still around that 13-billion-dollar range that would provide assistance to producers, and also bring in those that have been excluded from earlier packages, such as contract growers and those that had to depopulate their herds due to the spikes in the virus early in this year.?

Walmsley says rural broadband could receive a $10 billion boost.

?There was some specific language for broadband deployment, at about $6.25 billion, and then, I think, there were some additional dollars that get to the $10 billion.?

The ethanol industry, ravaged by pandemic-depressed fuel use to the tune of some 3.8-billion dollars would get help only indirectly from the CCC, though hasn?t so far for technical legal reasons. Some Midwest states have provided help to ethanol refiners with earlier federal CARES Act dollars, but the patchwork aid is much less than overall industry losses. And Walmsley says agriculture?s future in the near-term is uncertain.

?We have seen a little bit of rebound in some commodity prices later this year, but like we?ve been saying all along, there?s been producers that have been completely cut out of previous deals. And we still don?t know what some folks are expecting a long winter will look like for foodservice and restaurants going forward.?

And there?s partisan disagreement on whether even more virus aid will be necessary during the new year, with some Republicans saying vaccines could get the economy back on its feet while Democrats argue for further help.