USDA has announced still-more aid for agriculture or agriculture-related sectors, this time announcing that it will be sending out aid to the U.S. timber and logging industry that was hurt by the pandemic.
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that up to $200 million in aid would be made for U.S. timber harvesters and haulers that were negatively impacted by the pandemic via what is called the Pandemic Assistance for Timber Harvesters and Haulers (PATHH) program. The funding for the effort came via the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act that was approved in December 2020.
That measure was a COVID relief effort including payments to several components of U.S. agriculture. The timber harvesters and haulers would be eligible for the aid if they had a loss in gross revenue of at least 10% between from January 1-December 1, 2020, compared with the same period in 2019.
To be eligible, the business must have at least 50% of its gross revenue coming from cutting or transporting timber or processing wood onsite at the forest. Two payments are possible, with the first at 80% of the revenue decline with a second payment possible if there are still additional funds left over. And, there will be a per-person/entity payment limit of $125,000.
Vilsack commented that the two payment installments allow USDA to adjust if there is more demand or less demand for the money available. But Vilsack said the $200 million was picked by lawmakers as "place to start." It's not clear if there is more than $200 million requests for payment whether USDA would opt to put more money into the effort.
Given that the signup runs July 22-October 15, funds will not arrive until later this year.
That seems to be the trend with COVID aid efforts the past few months. Make a splashy announcement of dollars that are coming while the actual funds will not appear in the bank accounts of those requesting the help until later.
Vilsack said the department has announced aid totaling $13 billion. But he didn't say how many of those dollars have indeed been provided to producers.
USDA's effort announced last week to provide funds to hog and poultry producers who owned their livestock but were forced to depopulate them are hopefully going to see those dollars by the end of the year.
And there are still funds that haven't even been announced like the timber and livestock aid. Those efforts include contract pork raisers who still have heard no word from USDA even as the agency has said that aid to contract poultry growers is on the way or has been made.
And there is the $700 million in aid to biofuel producers that has been announced, but not in enough detail to give an idea when those funds will be coming.
And then there is aid for dairy farmers. USDA in June announced that $400 million would be offered up to dairy farmers via the Dairy Donation Program (DDP). But that aid isn't ready to go yet either -- the regulation for the effort is still under review at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
And there are supplemental payments to small and medium dairy farmers under the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program that USDA said would total $568 million. Those, too, need some regulatory action on the part of USDA and nothing has been sent over to OMB as of yet.
Plus, recall the much-talked-about dairy aid that was expected to be announced when Vilsack was to visit Wisconsin in late-June. He didn't go and neither did the aid announcement. And no one is talking about the aid at this point.
So there seems to be a pattern of getting aid announced faster than getting the dollars in the hands of those affected by the pandemic. That is not totally uncommon, but it seems to be the norm rather than the exception at this point.
So we will see. The tally of money that is coming continues to rise, and the process of getting that from the announcement stage to the bank accounts of those affected is a process that needs to be watched closely, Washington Insider believes.