Late Friday April 17 Ag News: USDA Announces Coronavirus Food Assistance Program

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP). This new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program will take several actions to assist farmers, ranchers, and consumers in response to the COVID-19 national emergency. President Trump directed USDA to craft this $19 billion immediate relief program to provide critical support to our farmers and ranchers, maintain the integrity of our food supply chain, and ensure every American continues to receive and have access to the food they need.

“During this time of national crisis, President Trump and USDA are standing with our farmers, ranchers, and all citizens to make sure they are taken care of,” Secretary Perdue said. “The American food supply chain had to adapt, and it remains safe, secure, and strong, and we all know that starts with America’s farmers and ranchers. This program will not only provide immediate relief for our farmers and ranchers, but it will also allow for the purchase and distribution of our agricultural abundance to help our fellow Americans in need.”

CFAP will use the funding and authorities provided in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES), the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), and other USDA existing authorities. The program includes two major elements to achieve these goals.

-    Direct Support to Farmers and Ranchers: The program will provide $16 billion in direct support based on actual losses for agricultural producers where prices and market supply chains have been impacted and will assist producers with additional adjustment and marketing costs resulting from lost demand and short-term oversupply for the 2020 marketing year caused by COVID-19. 

-    USDA Purchase and Distribution: USDA will partner with regional and local distributors, whose workforce has been significantly impacted by the closure of many restaurants, hotels, and other food service entities, to purchase $3 billion in fresh produce, dairy, and meat. We will begin with the procurement of an estimated $100 million per month in fresh fruits and vegetables, $100 million per month in a variety of dairy products, and $100 million per month in meat products. The distributors and wholesalers will then provide a pre-approved box of fresh produce, dairy, and meat products to food banks, community and faith based organizations, and other non-profits serving Americans in need.

On top of these targeted programs USDA will utilize other available funding sources to purchase and distribute food to those in need.
-    USDA has up to an additional $873.3 million available in Section 32 funding to purchase a variety of agricultural products for distribution to food banks. The use of these funds will be determined by industry requests, USDA agricultural market analysis, and food bank needs.
-    The FFCRA and CARES Act provided an at least $850 million for food bank administrative costs and USDA food purchases, of which a minimum of $600 million will be designated for food purchases. The use of these funds will be determined by food bank need and product availability.

Further details regarding eligibility, rates, and other implementation will be released at a later date.
 
Additional Background:
USDA has taken action during the COVID-19 national emergency to make sure children and families are fed during a time of school closures and job losses, as well as increase flexibilities and extensions in USDA’s farm programs to ensure the U.S. food supply chain remains safe and secure.
 
Feeding Kids and Families
-    USDA expanded flexibilities and waivers in all 50 states and territories to ensure kids and families who need food can get it during this national emergency.
-    USDA is partnering with the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, McLane Global, PepsiCo, and others to deliver more than 1,000,000 meals a week to students in a limited number of rural schools closed due to COVID-19.
-    USDA authorized Pandemic EBT in Michigan and Rhode Island, a supplemental food purchasing benefit to current SNAP participants and as a new EBT benefit to other eligible households to offset the cost of meals that would have otherwise been consumed at school.
-    USDA expanded an innovative SNAP online grocery purchase pilot program in Arizona and California, Florida and Idaho, and DC and North Carolina, in addition to Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, Oregon and Washington.

Actions to Ensure a Strong Food Supply Chain
-    USDA is working to ensure the food supply remains safe and secure.
-    USDA announced flexibilities to ensure food distribution for certain food products like dairy and eggs reach retail settings.
-    USDA announced farm loan flexibilities, deferrals, and maturity extensions.

Whole of Government Response in Rural America
-    USDA released The COVID-19 Federal Rural Resource Guide, a first-of-its-kind resource for rural leaders looking for federal funding and partnership opportunities to help address this pandemic.
-    USDA opened a second application window (April 14, 2020 to July 13, 2020) for $72 million of funding under the Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) grant program.
-    USDA Rural Development lenders may offer 180-day loan payment deferrals without prior agency approval for Business and Industry Loan Guarantees, Rural Energy for America Program Loan Guarantees, Community Facilities Loan Guarantees, and Water and Waste Disposal Loan Guarantees.
-    USDA will use the $100 million provided for the ReConnect Program in the CARES Act to invest in qualified 100 percent grant projects.

For all the information on USDA’s work during the COVID-19 pandemic and resources available, please visit https://www.usda.gov/coronavirus.



Fortenberry on $19 Billion Relief Package for Agricultural Producers

Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (NE-1) offered the following statement today after President Trump and Ag Secretary Purdue announced a $19 billion relief package for agricultural producers.

“Today, President Trump and Agriculture Secretary Perdue heard the urgent call of Nebraska’s ranchers, pork producers, and other ag sectors severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic,” Fortenberry said.  “This critically needed funding will help sustain those who have worked so hard to ensure that we have the safest, most abundant, and most affordable food supply in the world, while taking care of those suffering from food insecurity,” Fortenberry added.

"The program will include both direct payments to ag producers as well as mass purchases of their dairy, meat and produce in order to quickly direct nutritious food to persons in dire need," Fortenberry said.  “Congress earlier authorized nearly ten billion dollars of flexible tools to the Secretary to protect our ag sector.  Those funds are included in this package.  I wish to thank President Trump and Secretary Purdue for their plan of action,” Fortenberry said.



NCBA Applauds USDA Relief Plan

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Marty Smith issued the following statement regarding today’s announcement related to USDA’s plan for distribution of CARES Act funding.

“We appreciate Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s announcement that the agency will soon distribute funding to the cattlemen and cattlewomen who desperately need help during this national emergency. We applaud USDA’s work to quickly craft a plan to distribute the funds to those who need it most and we look forward to learning more about that plan very soon. America’s cattle producers are facing unprecedented crisis after two market-disruptions in less than a year and this funding will provide the certainty needed to move forward with their work.

“Earlier this week, a study commissioned by NCBA, estimated that cow-calf producers stand to lose $8.1 billion as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, while the stocker/backgrounder sector losses will reach $2.5 billion and feedlot losses will total $3.0 billion as a result of the virus that is ravaging the American economy. Total industry losses are expected to reach $13.6 billion. While the relief funds that have been allocated to USDA by Congress represent a start to stabilizing the industry, there is much more work to be done to protect the cattle producers who are an essential component of the agriculture industry and the anchor for rural America.”



NPPC Statement on USDA COVID-19 Relief Package

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced a COVID-19 relief package that includes $3 billion in planned agricultural product purchases and $1.6 billion in direct payments to hog farmers, including payment limitations of $125,000 per commodity and $250,000 per individual. Industry economists conservatively estimate that hog farmers will lose $37 per hog marketed, or $5 billion collectively, for the remainder of the year. The following statement may be attributed to Howard "A.V." Roth, president of the National Pork Producers Council and a hog farmer from Wauzeka, Wisconsin:

"We fear the lifeline so desperately needed will fall short of what is truly needed. While the direct payments to hog farmers will offset some losses for some farmers, they are not sufficient to sustain the varied market participants, including those who own hogs as well as thousands of contract growers who care for pigs. All of these participants have made sizable investments in a U.S. pork production system that is the envy of the world. Many generational family farms will go bankrupt without immediate financial aid.

"We are thankful for USDA commodity purchases, a step that will hopefully help move a backed up supply of pork to those who need it, creating much-needed plant capacity to harvest market-ready hogs that have lost value as they have backed-up on farms because of COVID-19.

"Our farm sector is made up of different market participants who are dependent on one another to maintain profitable operations. Unlike other industries that have received COVID relief aid without restrictions, many of our hog farmers have been left behind. Without quick action to extend support where it is needed most, we will see pork industry consolidation, a decline in healthy competition that drives innovation and the loss of a relished rural lifestyle for many farm families."



NMPF Appreciates USDA Step in Dairy Farmer Aid, Even as More Will Be Needed

The National Milk Producers Federation expressed appreciation to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue for including dairy in its $19 billion-dollar agriculture disaster assistance package released today while noting that more will be needed to stem steep losses in the dairy sector. NMPF staff are awaiting details of the plan, which appears to include financial aid for producers and purchases of at least $100 million per month in dairy products for distribution to the public.

“Federal dairy assistance is critically needed as the nation’s dairy farmers face an unprecedented collapse of markets resulting from the shutdown of much of the economy,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF, the largest U.S. dairy-farmer organization. “The plan announced today should provide important relief to some producers, and we look forward to learning more of its details in coming days to fully understand its scope and implementation.”

“Dairy’s fortunes have been especially grim, given the perishability of our product, its daily harvest and the fact that the virtual shutdown of the food service market has wiped out more than one-third of our product demand. After five years of poor prices, many producers faced financial difficulties even before the coronavirus crisis. Without more aid, this crisis could be their demise. We hope to work with USDA and members of Congress on implementing this plan and on the further assistance that will inevitably be needed due to this deepening crisis.”

NMPF thanked the many members of Congress who weighed in during the process to urge USDA to provide robust assistance to dairy. “We are extremely grateful for the strong bipartisan, bicameral push from members of Congress across the country in support of a significant dairy aid package,” Mulhern said. “Their important efforts built on successful bipartisan passage of the CARES Act late last month, which set the stage for this aid to be provided, and we thank them for their tireless advocacy for dairy farmers.”



USDA Aid Package Misses Opportunity to Help America’s Struggling Ethanol Industry

This evening, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a $19 billion aid program. While the package will help the nation’s farmers and ranchers, it does not provide any assistance to America’s ethanol industry, which has been devastated by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The following is a statement from Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper:

“While we appreciate that USDA’s new program provides needed assistance to the nation’s farmers and ranchers, it is unfortunate and disappointing that the 350,000 workers supported by America’s ethanol industry were left behind.

“USDA missed a crucial opportunity to lend a helping hand to an industry that is suffering the worst economic crisis in its history. Roughly half of the ethanol industry is shut down today, as fuel demand has collapsed in response to COVID-19. Corn demand and prices have plummeted as plants across the country are idling. Jobs are being lost, grain markets are being ravaged, rural communities are being destabilized, and the long-term future of homegrown renewable fuels hangs in the balance. But even in the face of tremendous adversity, ethanol producers have stepped forward to help in the battle against coronavirus by ramping up production of high-purity alcohol for hand sanitizer and continuing to supply animal feed and captured carbon dioxide to the food supply chain.

“While today’s package is a start, more assistance will be required to help the farm sector and rural America fully recover from the devastating effects of this pandemic; we implore Congress and the administration to ensure that the ethanol industry is included in the next round of emergency relief. With each passing day, the nation’s renewable fuels sector edges closer to the brink of complete collapse. The ethanol industry needs help. We simply cannot afford to lose an industry that has become part of the fabric of rural America.”