USDA Coronavirus Food Assistance Program

Updated USDA Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP).The USDA released details on the program yesterday. The application period foragricultural producers will open up next week on May 26th. USDArecommends working with your local Farm Service Agency staff to fill out theapplication. More information can be found here: https://www.farmers.gov/cfap

About the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program

USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue announced the Coronavirus FoodAssistance program on April 17, 2020. CFAP will use funding and authoritiesprovided in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, theFamilies First Coronavirus Response Act, and other USDA existing authorities.This $19 billion immediate relief program includes direct support toagricultural producers as well as the Farmers to Families Food BoxProgram.


CFAP will provide vital financial assistance to producers ofagricultural commodities who have suffered a five-percent-or-greater pricedecline or who had losses due to market supply chain disruptions due toCOVID-19 and face additional significant market costs. Eligible commoditiesinclude:

  • Non-specialty Crops: malting barley, canola, corn, upland cotton, millet, oats, soybeans, sorghum, sunflowers,durum wheat, and hard red spring wheat
  •  Wool
  •  Livestock: cattle, hogs, and sheep (lambs and yearlings only)
  •  Dairy
  •  Specialty Crops
    • Fruits: apples, avocados, blueberries, cantaloupe, grapefruit, kiwifruit, lemons, oranges, papaya, peaches, pears, raspberries, strawberries, tangerines, tomatoes, watermelons
    •  Vegetables: artichokes,asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, sweet corn, cucumbers, eggplant, garlic, iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, dry onions, green onions, peppers, potatoes, rhubarb, spinach, squash, sweet      potatoes, taro
    •  Nuts: almonds, pecans, walnuts
    •  Other: beans, mushrooms

Eligible farmers and ranchers will receive one CFAP payment,drawn from two possible funding sources. The first source of funding is $9.5billion in appropriated funding provided in the CARES Act and compensatesfarmers for losses due to price declines that occurred between mid-January2020, and mid-April 2020 and for specialty crops for product that was shippedand spoiled or unpaid product. The second funding source uses the CommodityCredit Corporation Charter Act to compensate producers for $6.5 billion inlosses due to on-going market disruptions.