Louisiana Farm Bureau Succeeds in National Push for Contract Poultry Farmer Pandemic Assistance
By Andy Brown
Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation
After seventeen months of grassroots work and persistence, Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation (LFBF) and other state Farm Bureaus can celebrate a massive victory.
Contract poultry growers who were previously ruled out of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program are now eligible to apply for aid thanks to collaboration between various state Farm Bureaus, American Farm Bureau, lawmakers and the USDA. Up to $1 billion will be made available through the Consolidated Appropriations Act to livestock and poultry producers who suffered financial losses from January 1, 2020, through December 27, 2020.
“Farmers that contract their production with a commercial integrator have worked through hard times before, but COVID-19 presented challenges like we’d never seen,” LFBF Poultry Advisory Committee Chairman Butch Oaks said. “Our request for federal assistance in regards to this pandemic finally resonated loud enough in Washington, to provide meaningful assistance to folks who were very much in need of some help.”
The Consolidated Appropriations Act expands assistance coverage to include chickens, poultry eggs, turkeys, hogs and pigs, ducks, geese, pheasants and quail, including eligible breeding stock and eggs of all eligible poultry types produced under contract.
“This effort is a prime example of our grassroots network, and how our organization continues to produce results for farmers and ranchers,” LFBF President Jim Harper added. “Last year, poultry producers from several states joined together, citing that forces out of their control were decimating their income. While consumers suffered shortages of meat on the grocery store shelves, our chicken farmers had houses of birds with no place to process them. Plant closures shook the industry, and ultimately that loss landed on the backs of our farmers.”
To combat this loss and insure the viability of our food supply going forward, LFBF joined other state Farm Bureaus to alert the American Farm Bureau Federation of the dire issues facing the southeast “broiler-belt”.
“It’s great to have friends and farm leaders to rally with in times of need,” Harper said. “That’s the network Farm Bureau provides our members. Without that collective voice and the strength of our national organization, our message may never be loud enough in Washington D.C.”
“We are grateful to Senator Cassidy for signing on to numerous letters amplifying this issue, as well as members of our House delegation,” Oaks said. "This is a significant relief to many poultry farmers who’ve been waiting for months, unsure if this effort would come to fruition. I’m proud to say that it finally has.”
For more information on these changes to CFAP, how they impact poultry growers, and the collaboration amongst Farm Bureaus, please see AFBF’s press release here: https://www.fb.org/newsroom/usda-announces-contract-grower-aid-program
As well as USDA’s guidance here: https://www.fsa.usda.gov/news-room/news-releases/2021/usda-updates-pandemic-assistance-for-livestock-poultry-contract-producers-and-specialty-crop-growers