Farm Bureau is calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to quickly resume processing payments for its Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, or CFAP.
Processing of payments for the program, which offers direct aid to producers who suffered losses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, has been temporarily halted as part of an effort by President Joe Biden’s administration to review regulatory actions taken towards the end of former President Donald Trump’s administration. The agency will continue to accept applications while the program is under review.
“We recognize the new administration’s desire to review important farmer and rancher assistance programs and we urge USDA to take into consideration our comments on how to improve such programs,” American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said. “We appreciate that CFAP applications will continue to be accepted, and we encourage the swift resumption of distribution of resources to the people who are working to keep America’s pantries stocked.”
The CFAP program was recently expanded to include some producers who were left out of previous rounds of aid, including contract growers. Producers of certain commodities can also revise their applications to take advantage of updated payment rates.