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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Wednesday, May 01, 2024
Senate Democrats, setting the stage for a new COVID-19 relief bill, are proposing to spend $8 billion to bolster the food supply chain and to redistribute surplus commodities.
Cattle, dairy and hog producers as well as corn and soybean growers are expected to collect the largest shares of USDA’s $16 billion in coronavirus relief payments, which are designed to compensate for losses in sales or market value between January and April.
Farmers can start enrolling next week for $16 billion in coronavirus relief payments, but the Agriculture Department has decided to prorate the aid to ensure there is enough money to go around, Agri-Pulse has learned.
The European Union's plan to buy up skim milk powder and butter from European producers is spurring U.S. producers to join in protest with farmers from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay.
House Democrats released a massive new coronavirus relief bill that would provide $16.5 billion in additional direct payments to farmers and authorize USDA to compensate producers who have to dispose of livestock and poultry that can’t be sold because of processing disruptions.
The Agriculture Department awarded more than $1.2 billion in contracts to distributors to deliver fresh produce, milk, dairy products and pork and chicken directly to needy Americans.
Stung by scenes of farmers dumping milk and plowing under crops, the Trump administration is launching a never-before-tried plan to use the nation’s commercial food distributors to buy fresh produce, dairy products and meat and give them away to needy families across the country.
USDA’s $19 billion COVID-19 aid package for farmers may fall well short of compensating producers for the estimated damage of the pandemic, and the department has an ambitious and novel plan to distribute USDA-purchased commodities to needy people.
Without government relief, some analysts are sharply lowering their estimates of net farm income because of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on agricultural markets, with the livestock sector and corn growers bearing much of the hit.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue says USDA wants to provide relief from the COVID-19 crisis to eligible farm sectors “sooner rather than later,” but the department will have to wait until this summer at the earliest to distribute an additional $14 billion in aid.