The Agriculture Department is launching a new round of coronavirus relief payments worth up to $14 billion that will be spread over more commodities with new methods of calculating the assistance. The commodities that will qualify for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program payments for the first time include goats, bison, mohair, tobacco, hemp, mink and three classes of wheat: soft red winter, hard red winter, and white.
Enrollment started September 21 for the second round of CFAP, which is designed to compensate farmers for losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic since mid-April. The deadline for signup is December 11.
President Donald Trump announced the planned launch of CFAP-2 on September 17 at a campaign event in Wisconsin ahead of the release of the rules by USDA on Friday. Trump said the payments would amount to $13 billion. In a statement, USDA said they could total "up to $14 billion."
“We listened to feedback received from farmers, ranchers and agricultural organizations about the impact of the pandemic on our nation's farms and ranches, and we developed a program to better meet the needs of those impacted,” said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.
Under the first round of CFAP, commodities generally qualified for payments if their price had declined by at least 5% for a specified time period, generally between January and April 15.
Under CFAP-2, the 5% price decline will continue to be one of the three methods used to determine eligibility, and the time period will extend from April 15 to the end of the year, according to USDA. The eligible commodities will include barley, corn, sorghum, soybeans, sunflowers, upland cotton, all classes of wheat, milk, broilers, eggs, beef cattle, hogs, lambs and sheep.
Payments for such “price trigger” crops will be calculated using the greater of the 2020 planted acres multiplied by $15 per acre; or the eligible acres multiplied by a nationwide crop marketing percentage, multiplied by a crop-specific payment rate, and then by the producer’s weighted 2020 Actual Production History (APH) approved yield.
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Massachusetts Nursery and Landscape Association
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