By: Will Snell and Kenny Burdine

On March 24th, U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack introduced USDA’s Pandemic Assistance for Producers
that will be distributing more than $12 billion to assist agricultural producers and other
agricultural businesses impacted by the Coronavirus. As a review, Congress passed an additional
COVID-19 stimulus package (Consolidated Appropriations Act) last December providing supplementary
funding for crop and livestock producers who had received financial assistance from the first two
rounds of Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) payments (i.e., CFAP 1 and CFAP 2). New
programs were also included to compensate contract growers and producers who had to depopulate
animals who were not eligible for the first two CFAP payments. On Jan. 15, 2021 the outgoing Trump
administration announced that it would be moving forward with programs for selected provisions of
the December 2020 COVID-19 relief bill, but upon entering office, the Biden administration
immediately announced they would be reviewing these payments and programs before issuing
guidelines. Following the review, the announcement on March 24th outlined USDA’s plan to
distribute these funds and introduce new programs which included the following:

• Reopen Coronavirus Food Assistance Program 2 (CFAP 2) for at least 60 days beginning
on April 5, 2021 in an attempt to identify eligible producers (focusing on socially disadvantaged
producers) who did not apply for CFAP 2 and for producers who want to modify their CFAP 2
applications.

• Corn, soybean, wheat, sorghum, hemp, alfalfa hay, and other row crops (click here
for the entire list) along with certain fruit, vegetable and other specialty crops (click here for
the entire list) will be eligible for an additional $20 per acre payment. Payments will be based on
2020 acres and for producers who submitted an accepted CFAP 2 application. Eligible row crop
producers do not need to submit a new CFAP 2 application to receive the latest round of payments.
($4.5 billion).

• Cattle producers will be receiving an increase in CFAP 1 payment rates based on the
number of cattle in inventory between April 16, 2020, to May 14, 2020 ($1.1 billion). Cattle
producers with approved CFAP 1 applications do not need to reapply as they will automatically
receive these payments. The additional payment rates are:

Eligible Commodity Payment Rate
Feeder Cattle: Less than 600 Pounds $7.00/head Feeder Cattle: 600 Pounds or More $25.50/head Slaughter Cattle: Fed Cattle $63.00/head
Slaughter Cattle: Mature Cattle $14.75/head
All Other Cattle $17.25/head

• Contract livestock producers who had to depopulate their animals due to COVID-19
processing disruptions along with non-contract swine producers are eligible for funding under this
current round of payments, but USDA declared in their March 24ᵗʰ announcement, “payments for
contract growers are currently on hold and are likely to require modifications to the regulation as
part of a broader evaluation. FSA will continue to accept applications from interested contract
growers during this evaluation period.”

• Tobacco was eligible for CFAP 2, but similar to contract livestock producers, USDA
states that “payments for tobacco producers are currently on hold and are likely to require
modifications to the regulation as part of a broader evaluation. FSA will continue to accept
applications from interested contract growers during this evaluation period.”

• Additional funding to support Specialty Crop Block Grants, Farmers Opportunities
Training and Outreach Programs and the Local Agricultural Marketing Program ($500 Million).

• Additional funding (totaling $6 billion) to support new programs including
assistance for:

• Dairy farmers through the Dairy Donation Program
• Biofuels
• Specialty crops; beginning farmers; and local, urban, and organic farms
• Costs for organic certification or to continue or add conservation activities
• Timber harvesting and hauling
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other protective measures for food/food workers
• Improving the resilience of the food supply chain
• Developing infrastructure to support donation and distribution of perishable commodities
• Reducing food waste
• Other possible expansion and corrections to the CFAP

For more specific details on USDA‘s Pandemic Assistance for Producers click here. For more specific
details on Food Assistance Program (CFAP), click here.