WASHINGTON, Dec. 16, 2020 – USDA farm programs helped farmers and ranchers weather a tough 2020, one marked with a pandemic and multiple natural disasters. USDA’s farm program agencies – the Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Risk Management Agency (RMA), and Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) Business Center – worked to deliver programs to assist agricultural producers while also making strides to enhance efficiency and effectiveness to improve service to customers.
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Contact: FPAC.BC.Press@usda.gov
USDA Delivered Programs to Help Producers Amid Pandemic, Natural Disasters
WASHINGTON, Dec. 16, 2020 – USDA farm programs helped farmers and ranchers weather a tough 2020, one marked with a pandemic and multiple natural disasters. USDA’s farm program agencies – the Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Risk Management Agency (RMA), and Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) Business Center – worked to deliver programs to assist agricultural producers while also making strides to enhance efficiency and effectiveness to improve service to customers.
“We continue to admire and support the resiliency of farmers and ranchers during challenging times,” said Bill Northey, USDA’s Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation. “Amid the pandemic, our team has continued to work closely with producers to apply for programs and access needed USDA services. Meanwhile, we’ve also been working to improve efficiencies in how we operate to ultimately provide better customer service to America’s producers.”
Key highlights from 2020 include:
Support amid COVID-19 Pandemic: USDA continued to deliver farm programs and assistance to producers during the pandemic through innovative approaches to social distancing, adoption of virtual meetings across the nation and enhanced online tools through farmers.gov. USDA provided extra flexibilities to its programs, including crop insurance, farm programs and loans. RMA worked diligently to maximize crop insurance flexibilities – deadlines, deferral of interest, and other requirements – to help producers and insurance providers better cope with the impacts of the pandemic. FSA and NRCS worked together to adopt new processes for electronic signatures to ensure producer and field staff could use electronic tools safely and securely. FSA and the FPAC Business Center worked with economists and commodity specialist across USDA to quickly build and deliver two rounds of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), which provides financial assistance to help producers absorb some of the revenue losses and increased marketing costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The deadline to apply for CFAP 2 is Dec. 11, and so far, CFAP 1 and CFAP 2 provided almost $23 billion in relief. Learn more.
Disaster Relief: Natural disasters – including wildfires in the West, hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, the derecho in the Midwest and widespread severe drought – took a toll on U.S. agriculture this year. Through FSA’s suite of disaster programs, USDA helped offset losses totaling more than $212 million in fiscal 2020. Additionally, producers with crop insurance coverage received more than $5.8 billion in indemnities. In a year with 30 named storms, RMA rolled out two new policies to help offset impacts from hurricanes, the Hurricane Insurance Protection – Wind Index, Florida Citrus APH policy, and Nursery Value Select. Additionally, FSA added drought and excess moisture as eligible causes of loss for the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program – Plus, which provided much-needed assistance to help producers from 2018 and 2019 natural disasters. In total, the program provided $1.24 billion in relief.
Improving Efficiency, Effectiveness: Through extensive business process re-engineering of FSA, NRCS, and RMA administrative systems, the FPAC Business Center streamlined processes and improved mission support delivery, which enables FSA, NRCS, and RMA staff to continue providing best-in-class customer service and delivery of farm programs. Examples of improvements include:
Streamlining Programs and Services: FSA, NRCS, RMA, and the FPAC Business Center continue their close coordination of USDA programs and services. In the past year, the agencies coordinated in the selection and training of beginning farmer and rancher coordinators across the country, who will be representing the entire portfolio of USDA programs for new farmers and ranchers. The agencies also lead USDA’s new Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production, which awarded its first ever grants and cooperative agreements this year to support urban agriculture, as well as stood up its first urban county committees.
Delivery of Additional Programs and Services: FSA, NRCS, and RMA continued vital delivery of important safety net, farm loan, and conservation programs. In addition to programs mentioned earlier, the FPAC agencies delivered:
More information is available in our agency-specific releases for FSA, NRCS, and RMA. To learn more about available programs, visit farmers.gov or contact your local USDA Service Center.
All USDA Service Centers are open for business, including those that restrict in-person visits or require appointments. All Service Center visitors wishing to conduct business with FSA, NRCS, or any other Service Center agency should call ahead and schedule an appointment. Service Centers that are open for appointments will pre-screen visitors based on health concerns or recent travel, and visitors must adhere to social distancing guidelines. Visitors are also required to wear a face covering during their appointment. Our program delivery staff will continue to work with our producers by phone, email and using online tools. More information can be found at farmers.gov/coronavirus.
Correction: The marketing assistance loan amount was corrected on Dec. 28 to $8.3 billion. The amount in the original release was incorrect.
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 27, 2023 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Commodity Credit Corporation today announced Marketing Assistance Loan rates for 2024-crop graded wool by micron class. Loan rates for ungraded wool and mohair are unchanged and remained the same from the prior crop year.