USDA rolls out commodity relief program
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on March 18 its rollout of a $10 billion program designed to provide relief to ag producers for losses due to falling commodity prices.
The money for the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program is part of a $30 billion farm bailout bill passed in December under the Biden administration. The other $20 billion is targeted to disaster relief for producers from losses due to drought, wildfires and other natural disasters, and will be made available in block grants and supplemental disaster relief payments to be detailed in further announcements.
Producers can apply for the program beginning March 19. USDA’s Farm Service Agency will begin sending pre-filled applications to producers who submitted acreage reports to the agency for 2024 eligible commodities. ECAP applications must be submitted in-person or online by Aug. 15.
Brooke Appleton, USDA deputy undersecretary for farm production and conservation, announced details at a USDA virtual press conference. Appleton is a former vice president of public policy for the National Corn Growers Association and a veteran of the first Trump administration.
The program is acreage-based rather than volume-based. The formula calculates the difference between expected gross return per acre and the expected cost of production per acre for each eligible commodity. The expected gross return is derived by multiplying the projected average farm price (from the Dec. 10, 2024, World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report) by the national average harvested yield per acre over the past 10 years. The expected cost of production is based on USDA’s Economic Research Service data for the 2024 crop year.
U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Chairman John Boozman (R-AR) said, “Congress approved this critical funding to provide a bridge to help ensure hardworking American farm families can continue operations this season while we craft an updated farm bill. The current safety net fails to serve as an effective risk management tool that farmers, ranchers and producers can rely on, so it’s vital that USDA expeditiously distributes these funds that will help them continue to feed, fuel and clothe the world in the interim. I am grateful for the swift implementation by Secretary (Brooke) Rollins and look forward to continuing to work with her to support the needs of our farmers.”
David Murray can be reached at journal@hpj.com.
