USDA Announces Changes and Revisions to CFAP Program

WASHINGTON, DC – USDA will be providing additional assistance for producers through another round of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP). The new round, announced on Friday, will expand eligibility for some producers and commodities. In addition, the program will update payments to accurately compensate some producers who already applied for the program.

Producers who are now eligible and those who need to modify existing applications due to these updates can contact USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) before February 26, 2021. Some of these changes are being made to align with the recently enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 while other changes are being made in response to the ongoing evaluation of previous CFAP enrollments.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue explains that “as part of implementing CFAP 1 and CFAP 2, we identified new areas of support and Congress recently directed us to provide additional relief. This additional assistance builds on to the $23.6 billion in assistance already provided to our farmers and ranchers impacted by the pandemic, and we will continue to implement other provisions enacted by Congress.”

Contract producers of swine, broilers, laying hens, chicken eggs, and turkeys who experienced a reduction in revenue in 2020 (compared to 2019) will now be eligible for assistance and could receive up to 80 percent of their revenue loss. Producers of pullets and turfgrass sod also now are eligible for CFAP payments. FSA is providing an additional CFAP-1 inventory payment for swine to help producers who face continuing market disruptions from changes in U.S. meat consumption due to the pandemic. Swine producers with approved CFAP-1 applications will soon automatically receive a “top-up” payment of $17 per head increasing the total inventory payment to $34 per head.

In addition to the changes being made to CFAP, FSA will extend 2020 Marketing Assistance Loans to provide additional flexibilities for farmers and is also preparing to move forward on implementation of the remaining provisions of the recently passed Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)