CFAP2: farmers to get $14 billion in COVID-19 aid

WASHINGTON--The second round of coronavirus relief is giving farmers and ranchers an additional $14 billion dollars. The administration says the new $14-billion-dollar Coronavirus Food Assistance Program will provide direct payments to farmers and ranchers to offset the ongoing COVID-related losses for farmers. The Farm Bureau's Economist, John Newton says the aid extends to new commodity categories.

“The second round of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program provides additional much needed financial support for our livestock producers, our crop producers, specialty crop, as well as extending into the nursery, floriculture, specialty livestock, tobacco, and several other commodity categories,” said Newton. The CFAP2 provides much-needed relief for losses not covered in the original CFAP assistance.

“The first round of CFAP provided financial assistance to producers really through the April 15th date, which was right around the height of COVID-19 impacts. And this second round provides support for produces that had financial losses after that April 15th date and extends all the way through in some cases the rest of the year for dairy farmers, for crop producers. For livestock producers, it provides support based on inventory held on the farm operation from April 16th through the end of August,” said Newton.

Newton provides more information about the program on American Farm Bureau’s Market Intel page.

“The Market Intel page includes a breakdown of where the CFAP assistance is expected to go based on USDA analysis. It also provides commodity-level payment information. The best place to get information on the CFAP program is at farmers.gov/CFAP. The program opens for signup today and extends through December. So, producers have plenty of time to get in and sign up for that second round of CFAP assistance,” concludes Newton.