Jun 15, 2021Pandemic Assistance for Producers includes aid for specialty crop entities
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced June 15 additional aid to agricultural producers and businesses as part of the USDA Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative.
The funding includes $700 million in Pandemic Response and Safety Grants for PPE and other protective measures to help specialty crop growers, meat packers and processors and seafood industry workers, among others
Earlier this year, Vilsack announced plans to use available pandemic assistance funds to address a number of gaps and disparities in previous rounds of aid. As part of the Pandemic Assistance initiative announced in March, USDA pledged to continue Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) payments and to provide aid to producers and businesses left behind. Implementation of the assistance announced June 15 will continue within 60 days to include support to timber harvesters, biofuels, dairy farmers and processors, livestock farmers and contract growers of poultry, assistance for organic cost share and grants for PPE.
“USDA is honoring its commitment to get financial assistance to producers and critical agricultural businesses, especially those left out or underserved by previous COVID aid,” said Secretary Vilsack. “These investments through USDA Pandemic Assistance will help our food, agriculture and forestry sectors get back on track and plan for the future. Since January, USDA has provided more than $11 billion of assistance directly to producers and food and agriculture business.”
In March, USDA announced $6 billion (see Part 1) in available funds through Pandemic Assistance to support a number of new programs or to modify existing efforts. The following programming is planned for implementation within 60 days, which will continue to be focused on filling gaps in previous rounds of assistance and helping beginning, socially disadvantaged and small and medium sized producers that need support most:
- $200 million: Small, family-owned timber harvesting and hauling businesses
- $700 million: Biofuels producers
- Support for dairy farmers and processors:
- $400 million: The new Dairy Donation Program to address food insecurity and mitigate food waste and loss
- Additional pandemic payments targeted to dairy farmers that have demonstrated losses that have not been covered by previous pandemic assistance
- Approximately $580 million: Supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage for small and medium farms
- Assistance for poultry and livestock producers left out of previous rounds of pandemic assistance:
- Contract growers of poultry
- Livestock and poultry producers forced to euthanize animals during the pandemic (March 1, 2020 through December 26, 2020)
- $700 million: Pandemic Response and Safety Grants for PPE and other protective measures to help specialty crop growers, meat packers and processors, seafood industry workers, among others
- Up to $20 million: Additional organic cost share assistance, including for producers who are transitioning to organic
- $6.295 billion: Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) payments to farmers, ranchers and producers (March 24th)
- $35 million: Value Added Producer Grants (March 5th)
- $169.9 million: Specialty Crop Block Grants (April 13th)
- $75 million: Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (April 13th)
- $37.5 million: Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (April 13th)
- $80 million: Payments to Domestic Users of Cotton (April 13th)
- $92.2 million: Local Agriculture Market Program (May 5th)
- Approximately $20 Million: Pandemic Cover Crop Program (June 1st)