House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson Monday announced the food and agriculture provision in this week’s COVID-19 relief package. In addition to a 15 percent increase in benefits for recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for six months, Peterson pointed specifically to the inclusion of support for those who were left out earlier assistance. Those include contract livestock and poultry growers, ethanol producers that saw a drop in demand, and livestock and poultry producers who had to depopulate herds and flocks because of supply chain disruptions. The bill also contains assistance for dairy farmers, funding for small and mid-sized livestock processors to attain federal inspection to accommodate increased demand, and animal health work and grants to state departments for ongoing farm stress programs. The outgoing Democrat, Peterson, says, "This bill isn't perfect, but it reflects a compromise and goes a long way toward getting us through this hard time and back to normal.”
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