Agricultural producers may now apply for coronavirus-related funding.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week opened enrollment for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, which offers direct payments to agricultural producers to help offset impacts from the coronavirus pandemic. Chad Hart, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach economist, speaks to the losses, which prompted such funding.
?We have seen Ag prices, across the board, slide down significantly because of the spread of the coronavirus and physical distancing responses we?ve had to put in place to tamp down the virus,? Hart said. ?As you look at July corn futures, what we saw throughout this year is a downward movement in prices, significant, especially as we went through March and April, as COVID-19 was moving across the United States and affecting global markets.?
Elected leaders established the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, in response to market turbulence sparked by the global pandemic. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also utilized funding resources to create the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP). The two different programs will provide agricultural producers one payment, through two funding sources
“You’re going to see two payment rate. One of the payment rates is for responding to the price drop. The other is reacting to where prices currently sit,” Hart said.
U.S. Department of Agriculture officials have set aside 19-billion-dollars, under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. Three-billion-dollars will be used for direct food purchases, while the remaining 16-billion-dollars will be offered as direct payments to support agricultural producers.
For more information about available funding, visit www.farmers.gov/cfap.
