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Perdue says CFAP direct payments won’t be enough
Ag Secretary Perdue says the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) payments to farmers won’t be enough as COVID-19 related losses continue to sap the farm economy.
At a Michigan farm visit last week, Perdue said economists are working on the numbers but it looks like the $16 Billion dollar program won’t be enough to cover losses from the pandemic. Perdue says there are likely long term impacts that will need additional offsets. He says USDA is reviewing disaster program options for the extra $14 billion dollars approved by Congress in the Commodity Credit Corporation that should be available this month.
The House-passed HEROES act contains $33 Billion dollars in aid for farmers. Senate majority leader McConnell says the Senate likely won’t pass another relief bill until August and that it must contain liability protections from virus-related lawsuits. Congress is not in session the next two weeks but will be working on an ag appropriations bill to fund USDA, FDA and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, CFTC.
