Congress passed a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package on Monday night, which delivers a third round of direct financial aid to farmers and ranchers. The bill itself is somewhat up in the air still as of this writing, as President Trump has said he won’t sign it. In its current form though, Crop farmers will receive $20 dollar per acre payments for the 2020 crop year in the relief package. That includes the commodities that were included in the price trigger and flat rate categories of CFAP2. For cattle producers though, it’s a bit more complicated.
Payments will be made to cattlemen to mitigate the distinction between livestock marketed before and after April 15. Livestock producers that marketed livestock after April 15 will receive 50% of the difference between the aid provided on livestock marketed before April 15 and the assistance provided on livestock marketed after April 15. Breeding stock will receive 25% of the difference between the assistance provided on livestock marketed before April 15 and the assistance provided on livestock marketed after April 15.
So, what does that mean?
The cattle industry will receive $1.4 billion in assistance that designed to help those producers who sold into that depressed market after the CFAP 1 program cutoff on April 15th. The payment will be for cattle inventory from CFAP 1, April 16 to May 14, making it easier for USDA to get assistance out the door, while not requiring a new sign-up process. Unlike CFAP 2, this will cover breeding stock.
The table below, courtesy of the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association, is an estimate of the payment rates by cattle class under the new COVID package, along with the overall estimated payments:
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Northern Ag Network/North Dakota Stockmen’s/Texas Cattle Feeders Association
