USDA Expands CFAP 2 to Increase Producer Support

Estimated read time: 3 minutes

Key Points:

• On March 24, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced an expansion to the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) 2.
• USDA has started accepting new applications for CFAP 2 and making payments that had formerly been paused. A deadline to apply for the program has not yet been issued.

Many California almond growers have taken advantage of the financial assistance provided by the Coronavirus Food Assistance Programs (CFAP) introduced under the Trump administration and continued by the Biden administration. The programs – CFAP and CFAP 2 – were initiated to help producers of agricultural commodities who faced market disruptions due to COVID-19.

While earlier this year the Biden administration paused CFAP payments and applications, on March 24 U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced an expansion to CFAP as part of a larger effort to reach a greater share of farming operations and improve USDA pandemic assistance. The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) has committed at least $2 million to establish partnerships and direct outreach efforts intended to improve outreach for FSA programs, including CFAP 2 and its reopening.

USDA began accepting new applications for CFAP 2 on April 5 and began making payments that had formerly been paused. A deadline to apply for the program has not yet been issued.

FSA has updated the CFAP 2 payment calculation for specialty crops to account for crop insurance indemnities and payments through the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance program (NAP) and Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+). Payments are based on a producer’s eligible sales in calendar year 2019, and with the new calculations producers may receive a higher payment. Producers who submitted an application for CFAP 2 before Vilsack’s announcement can work with FSA to modify their applications.

Payments for specialty crop producers who began farming in 2020 and had no sales in 2019 will be based on the producer’s actual 2020 sales as of the producer’s application date. Eligible sales only include sales of raw commodities grown by the producer. The portion of sales derived from adding value to the commodity, such as processing and packaging, and from sales of products purchased for resale is not included in the payment calculation.

If you have not yet applied for CFAP 2, the Almond Board encourages you to contact your local FSA office to begin the application process (click here to view a list of FSA offices in the Central Valley). More information about the program may be found at https://www.farmers.gov/cfap2/specialty.