Farm Business

More than $1.4 billion in COVID-19 aid issued

USDA's latest update details spending through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program.

Compiled by staff

June 9, 2020

2 Min Read

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As of June 8, USDA has paid 80,261 producers $1.4 billion through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program.

The program provides financial assistance to producers who incurred a 5% or greater price decline due to COVID-19 or who had losses due to market supply chain disruptions.

Eligible commodities include:

Non-specialty: Malting barley, canola, corn, upland cotton, millet, oats, soybeans, sorghum, sunflowers, durum wheat, and hard red spring wheat
Wool
Livestock: cattle, hogs, and sheep (lambs and yearlings only)
Dairy
Specialty crops:
- Apples, avocados, blueberries, cantaloupe, grapefruit, kiwifruit, lemons, oranges, papaya, peaches, pears, raspberries, strawberries, tangerines, tomatoes, watermelons
- Artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, sweet corn, cucumbers, eggplant, garlic, iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, dry onions, green onions, peppers, potatoes, rhubarb, spinach, squash, sweet potatoes, taro
- Almonds, pecans, walnuts
- Other: Beans and mushrooms.

Program signup began May 26 and continues through Aug. 28.

In the first six days of the application period, FSA made $545 million in payments to more than 35,000 producers. The payments are updated weekly.

Here's some information gleaned from the June 8 data:

The top three states for non-specialty crop payments are Illinois at $60.6 million, Iowa at $52.5 million and Nebraska at $45.2 million.
The top three states for dairy payments are Wisconsin at $79.9 million, California at $44.3 million and New York at $38.3 million.
The top three states for specialty crop payments are Florida, $11.5 million, California, $5.9. million and New Mexico, $1.5 million.
The top three states for livestock payments are Kansas, $68.2 million, Oklahoma, $58.1 million, and South Dakota, $55.6 million.
Producers in Alaska, Delaware, Rhode Island and the Virgin Islands have not received any money yet.
There are no applications from Rhode Island producers thus far in any of the categories.