Farm-state Senators continue to fire off letters to USDA outlining their wants for specific commodities in any USDA COVID-19 aid plan. Senate Ag Committee Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and other lawmakers Monday fired off a series of letters to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue calling for USDA COVID-19 aid plans to include specialty crop producers which the letter said have seen losses of $5 billion so far with more ahead.
They want USDA to provide direct payments to cover lost revenue and increased production costs and want the agency to buy specialty crops to redistribute to food banks, schools and emergency feeding organizations.
For dairy, the letter calls on USDA to “build off existing programs to deliver both direct assistance to dairy farmers and intervene in the market to reverse the decline in futures prices and signal a floor on farm prices.” They also want USDA to reopen the Dairy Market Coverage (DMC) signup that closed in December and make sizable buys of dairy products for food and feed efforts.
A portion of the $9.5 billion tabbed for COVID-19 aid from USDA also needs to go to local farmers who sell directly to consumers, schools, institutions and others, according to a third letter. Lawmakers signing that letter noted the specific mention of those who supply local food systems as being eligible for a portion of the aid. They called on USDA to require that those receiving aid show they have at least 25% of their total farm income from local sales.
USDA is expected to unveil its details of around $16 billion in aid plans either this week or next week.
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