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USDA officials defend CFAP for cattle producers
Two USDA officials in Missouri today defended the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program payments for cattle producers.
FSA Administrator Richard Fordyce, former Missouri Ag Director, tells Brownfield Ag News they were able to bend the statutory payment limits imposed on Farm Bill programs for many cattle producers, “And actually doubled those in some cases, tripled them in other case, depending on the operational structure, and so on, of the operation.” Fordyce is a cattle farmer himself.
Under Secretary Greg Ibach says the USDA has worked very hard to meet the needs of all producers and there is more assistance to come, “We have the opportunity for livestock producers that aren’t used to working with government programs and don’t have their entity set up properly to be able to take that family unit and get multiple payments because that’s how the family unit may share that livestock income.”
Ibach says Congress has given USDA additional dollars for a second CFAP which he says will fairly address losses since the first quarter.
Missouri Ag Director Chris Chinn says a lot of cattle producers in the state are unhappy with the limits.
Fordyce and Ibach were with Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler at the Food Bank of Central and Northeast Missouri to see the Farmers to Food Box program in action.
