October 5, 2020
By:
Livestock, Corn, Soybeans, Wheat, Nursery and Other Commodities Eligible for Additional Payments
Coronavirus Food Assistance Program 2.0 Underway Until December 11, 2020
Donny Green, County Executive Director for the DeKalb-Cannon County Farm Service Agency announces that the signup for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) 2.0 began September 21 and will continue until December 11, 2020. CFAP 2.0 is a separate and additional program that follows up CFAP 1.0 that ended on September 11 and includes categories for dairy, eggs/broilers, livestock, sales commodities, and acreage-based commodities. Producers who received payments under the previous CFAP program are also eligible to receive payments under CFAP 2.0.
USDA is providing critical support to our nation’s farmers and ranchers through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP 2). CFAP 2 provides vital financial assistance to agricultural producers who continue to face market disruptions and associated costs because of COVID-19.
Livestock inventory eligible for CFAP 2.0 includes cattle, sheep, and pigs, but cannot include breeding stock (cows, bulls, ewes, rams, boars, sows, etc.). The eligible inventory will be the highest number (head) of livestock inventory owned on any one date between April 16, 2020 and August 31, 2020. The payment rate is $55 per head. To clarify, both sold and unsold livestock are eligible as long as they were owned on any given date between April 16, 2020 and August 31, 2020. Contract growers are not eligible.
Price trigger crops include corn, soybeans, and wheat. Payments will be based on 2020 planted acres of the crop, excluding prevented planting and experimental acres. Payments for price trigger crops will be the greater of: 1) the eligible acres multiplied by a payment rate of $15 per acre; or 2) the eligible acres multiplied by a nationwide crop marketing percentage, multiplied by a crop-specific payment rate, and then by the producer’s weighted 2020 Actual Production History (APH) approved yield. If the APH is not available, 85 percent of the 2019 Agriculture Risk Coverage-County Option (ARC-CO) benchmark yield for that crop will be used. For broilers and eggs, payments will be based on 75 percent of the producers’ 2019 production.
Sales commodities include nursery and floriculture crops, goat milk, Christmas trees, honey, wool, and animals (not including breeding stock) raised for food, fur, fiber, or feathers (alpacas, bison, buffalo, beefalo, emus, goats, llamas, pheasants, and quail). Eligible sales only include sales of raw commodities grown by the producer. Added value to the commodity, such as processing and packaging, must not be included in the amount of sales. Commodities purchases for resale are not eligible. Payment calculations will use a sales-based approach, where producers are paid based on five payment gradations associated with their 2019 sales.
Supporting production/inventory documents are not required to be provided at signup because the application is self-certification. However, the Farm Service Agency County Committee may request supporting documentation for any questionable information provided on the application. Producers who are approved for participation in CFAP 2 are required to retain documentation in support of their application for 3 years after the date of approval.
Effective Monday, September 28, 2020, customers of the Smithville USDA Service Center are now able conduct business in person in the office by appointment only. Visitors will be pre-screened based on health concerns or recent travel and must adhere to social distancing guidelines. Visitors must wear a face covering during their appointment. Visitors must call ahead and schedule an appointment. The Farm Service Agency telephone number is (615) 597-8225, Ext. 2