DGA Update: USDA Assistance Program Signups Now Open
The USDA has announced Coronavirus Food Assistance Program details. Sign-ups for this program started on May 26 and runs through Aug. 28. There are payments ($16 billion in total) for dairy, livestock, commodity crops, specialty crops and wool. Payments will be prorated at 80 percent upfront and 20 percent later in the year. Organic dairy is expected to be treated, in this context, like any other dairy operation. Contact your local Farm Service Agency office to make an appointment
Dairy farmers specifically: CFAP payments are eligible to all dairy operations with milk production in January, February, and/or March 2020. Any dumped milk production during the months of January, February, and March 2020 is eligible for assistance. However, any milk production priced under a forward contract for any time during January, February, and/or March is ineligible.
For dairy, a single payment will be made based on a producer’s certification of milk production for the first quarter of calendar year 2020 multiplied by $4.71 per hundred weight. The second part of the payment is based a national adjustment to each producer’s production in the first quarter multiplied by $1.47 per hundred weight (effectively $6.20 a CWT for milk produced in the first 3 months of 2020). This payment will help many producers significantly.
Other commodities such as cull cows will fall into the other cattle category in the livestock section of the CFAP program. They must have been sold from Jan. 15-April 15 to qualify for a payment of $135/head. Dairy steers fall into the feeder cattle under 600 lb. category and must have been sold from Jan. 15-April 15 or have been in inventory from April 16-May 15. It’s unclear whether feed inventory will qualify for a payment so contact your FSA office for that information.
-
Most popular related searches
Customer comments
No comments were found for DGA Update: USDA Assistance Program Signups Now Open. Be the first to comment!