U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently announced an expansion of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 provides additional CFAP assistance for producers of eligible row crops under CFAP 2.
Row crops eligible for CFAP 2 include: alfalfa, amaranth grain, barley, buckwheat, canola, corn, Extra Long Staple (ELS) cotton, upland cotton, crambe (colewort), einkorn, emmer, flax, guar, hemp, indigo, industrial rice, kenaf, khorasan, millet, mustard, oats, peanuts, quinoa, rapeseed, rice, sweet rice, wild rice, rye, safflower, sesame, sorghum, soybeans, speltz, sugar beets, sugarcane, sunflowers, teff, triticale and all classes of wheat.
Additional payments will be equal to the eligible acres of the crop multiplied by a payment rate of $20 per eligible acre.
USDA Farm Service Agency will automatically issue payments to eligible producers starting April 1 based on the eligible acres included on their CFAP 2 applications.
Eligible producers who have already applied for CFAP 2 do not need to submit a new application to receive this payment.
Producers who file new applications for price trigger and flat-rate crops during the reopened application period will also receive the additional payment.
Please share this information with stakeholders in your area. Additional information can be accessed at: https://www.farmers.gov/pandemic-assistance/cfap.
Mike Delberto, assistant professor, farm management and agricultural policy, at Louisiana State University’s AgCenter provided this information.