More than $7 billion approved so far in USDA’s new pandemic aid

More than $7 billion in payments were approved in the first month of applications under the new USDA coronavirus relief program, the agency reported.

The Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, known as CFAP 2 in its second iteration, supports livestock and dairy producers, as well as crop and aquaculture producers.

“This program builds upon the over $10 billion disbursed under the first round of CFAP,” said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. The initial program made $16 billion available. The new one is budgeted at $14 billion. “Agricultural producers who have been impacted by the pandemic since April 2020 are encouraged to apply for assistance,” Perdue said.

Since CFAP 2 enrollment began on September 21, the Farm Service Agency has approved more than 443,000 applications. The top five states for payments are Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois and Kansas. As of October 25, corn accounted for the most disbursed funding, about $2.2 billion. This was followed by cattle, at about $1.7 billion. Milk received $790 million, and hogs were approved for $378 million.

At the same time, a group of 15 U.S. senators is urging USDA to reverse a decision that they say prevents dairy farmers from receiving needed funding. Dairy farmers earn significant revenue from the meat of cows retired from milking. But unlike the first round of CFAP, farmers can no longer get compensation for losses related to meat produced from breeding animals. “This change will affect the livestock industry and will be particularly harmful to dairy farmers who often operate at extremely tight margins,” the senators said in a letter to Perdue.