Glitches in Aid Program Obscure Need for More Relief during Pandemic
By Chuck Abbott, Successful Farming
Farm groups are arguing for a massive new round of cash for agriculture in the coronavirus relief bill being negotiated by Congress and the White House, even though billions of dollars in an ongoing USDA aid program may go unclaimed. There’s no contradiction in the request, said the two largest U.S. farm groups on Monday.
“There’s ample reason to believe that family farmers and ranchers will need additional support in the coming months to withstand the financial impacts of the pandemic,” said Mike Stranz, a vice president at the National Farmers Union. Stranz and Terri Moore, a vice president at the American Farm Bureau Federation, said the unexpectedly slow rate of payments from a $16 billion coronavirus fund at the USDA was a poor gauge of conditions in farm country.
“We believe a combination of factors are contributing to the unallocated dollars — lack of need is not one of them,” said Moore.
As of Monday, $6.82 billion had been paid from the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), a one-time initiative created in April, to 499,156 applicants, said the USDA. The payments equal 43% of the money earmarked for agriculture. Some $270 million was disbursed last week, the smallest weekly payment since the program went into operation in late May. The deadline to apply for the program is Aug. 28.
Market prices for most commodities fell sharply as the coronavirus spread globally early this year. In June, the FAPRI think tank forecast a 9% drop in farm receipts from last year due to the pandemic. Although the largest farm subsidies ever paid — $33 billion — would soften the impact, they would not prevent a 3% drop in farm income, it said.