FSA Establishes Call Center For One-On-One Assistance

By USDA

Farmers and ranchers can now contact a call center to receive one-on-one assistance from US Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency (FSA), employees ready to help. By calling 877-508-8364, customers can ask questions about FSA programs – including to the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) – to get a jump start on program applications.
 
The call center was created in response to CFAP as a way to better serve customers, especially those who have not worked with FSA previously. Staff can also provide service to non-English speaking customers. Customers using the call center will still call 877-508-8364 and select 1 for English and 2 to speak with a Spanish-speaking employee. For other languages, customers select 1 and indicate their language to the call center staff.
 
Remember FSA announced on August 11th that catfish, largemouth bass and carp sold live as foodfish, hybrid striped bass, red drum, salmon, sturgeon, tilapia, trout, ornamental/tropical fish, recreational sportfish, and crawfish are eligible for CFAP assistance for economic losses that occurred between Jan 15th and April 15th, 2020.  The application deadline is September 11, 2020. For aquaculture specific information, click here.
 
FSA has expanded the call center concept beyond CFAP and customers who call can receive assistance on a variety of FSA programs, including FSA’s Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus, which provides disaster payments to producers to offset losses from hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters that occurred in the 2018 and 2019 calendar years.