Iowa?s congressional delegation is working to have custom cattle feeders included in renewed payments from USDA?s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program.
This week, Senators Chuck Grassley, Joni Ernst, and Representatives Cindy Axne, Randy Feenstra, Ashley Hinson, and Mariannette Miller-Meeks sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack highlighting the exclusion of custom cattle feeders from CFAP aid.
Congresswoman Axne tells the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network that the letter asked Secretary Vilsack, an Iowan, to expand eligibility of the department?s COVID-19 relief programs to include custom cattle feeders, a sector of Iowa?s agricultural economy operated primarily by family farmers.
?The latest round of CFAP announced by the previous administration on January 15th was intended to fill the gaps from the previous rounds, specifically around contract growers,? Axne said. ?Unfortunately, what happened is custom cattle feeders, which we know are largely family farm operations, were excluded even though they are very similar to swine and poultry contract growers. Many of those custom cattle feeders have been unable to conduct business as usual because of the pandemic. You know as well as I do, those yards are sitting empty or at low capacity, which has created a lot of uncertainty and harm for those family farm operations.?
The Iowa Cattlemen?s Association lauded Iowa?s congressional delegation. ICA CEO Matt Deppe says he was pleased to see a united show of support for Iowa?s hard-working cattle producers.
?We are extremely appreciative of our Iowa delegation for jumping across party lines for the good of Iowa,? Deppe said. ?That?s what we really need our representation to do on our behalf. It culminated in that action we saw with their sign-on to a group letter.?
Last year, the two rounds of CFAP assistance provided over $2.1 billion in assistance to Iowa?s farmers, growers, and producers. USDA approved over 113,000 applications from Iowa for CFAP aid.
The full text of the letter can be viewed here.
