Agricultural News
Time is Short to Apply for Help Under CFAP2- FSA's Scott Biggs Reminds Farmers and Ranchers to Apply ASAP
Tue, 01 Dec 2020 04:03:05 CST
Oklahoma farmers and ranchers have collected just over a quarter of a billion dollars of assistance in the second round of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program- but State FSA Director Scott Biggs is concerned that several thousand producers in the state may leave millions of dollars on the table unless they act quickly. He talked with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays about the CFAP2 program and you can hear their conversation by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
With the deadline to sign up for CFAP2 currently set for December 11th, Biggs estimates that as many 8,000 Oklahoma farmers and ranchers have not yet applied for the assistance to offset the losses that have hit the agricultural community during the pandemic of 2020. "we're missing about 8,000 producers here in Oklahoma- you know, we're anticipating about $350 million across the board and are sitting at $270 million right now- so there\s still a significant chunk of funding available if producers would like some assistance."
Biggs tells Hays that producers should not wait until the last day to apply for help- he urges them to contact their local Farm Service Agency office right away and get started. While most offices are not allowing in person visits because of COVID 19 concerns, he says the FSA employees in Oklahoma are actively helping their clients- "every employee in Oklahoma is working, answering emails, answering the phone- I've been shocked about by how well we have adjusted and the number of applications by fax, by email and computer applications is significant."
The majority of the money in the state of Oklahoma has been given to cattle and wheat producers to date- $187 million has gone to cattle producers while $40.6 million to wheat farmers in the state to date.
Nationally- over 703,000 applications have been accepted under the CFAP2 program and $11.1 billion has been sent to those who have applied and have been accepted to date. Corn is the top commodity that has received help under CFAP2 to date at $3 billion dollars, while cattle producers have collected $2.4 billion as of November 29th.
Click here for the dashboard that shows the national and state by state numbers. The webpage that offers an overview of CFAP2 is available here.
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