01.15.21

Hoeven: FSA Expands CFAP 2 Eligibility, Updates Payment Calculations

BISMARCK, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee and a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced expanded eligibility and updated payments under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP). Producers who are now eligible and those who need to modify existing applications due to these updates can contact the FSA between January 19 and February 26, 2021.

“These changes come as a result of measures we included in the year-end legislation, as well as the feedback we’ve facilitated between local producers and the FSA,” Hoeven said. “This will help a greater number of producers in North Dakota benefit from the agriculture assistance we secured, while also addressing some of the issues farmers and ranchers faced under the original payment calculations.” 

The changes to CFAP include:

  • Updated CFAP 2 Payment Calculations
    • Sales Commodities – FSA adjusted the payment calculation to use the producer’s eligible 2019 calendar year sales, 2019 crop insurance indemnities, Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) and Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) payments, multiplied by the applicable payment rate for all sales commodities.
    • Row Crops – FSA adjusted the row crop payment calculation for producers that had crop insurance coverage but not an available 2020 Actual Production History (APH) approved yield, in which case FSA will use 100% of the 2019 Agriculture Risk Coverage-County Option (ARC-CO) benchmark yield. This calculation change is only for barley, corn, sorghum, soybeans, sunflowers, upland cotton and wheat.
  • CFAP 1 ‘Top-up’ Payments for Swine – Swine producers with approved CFAP 1 applications will soon automatically receive a “top-up” payment of $17 per head, increasing the total CFAP 1 inventory payment to $34 per head.
  • Expanded CFAP 2 Eligibility – Contract producers of swine, broilers, laying hens, chicken eggs and turkeys who suffered a drop in revenue in 2020, as compared to their 2019 revenue, are now eligible for assistance. Producers could receive up to 80% of their revenue loss, subject to the availability of funds.

Additional information on today’s announcement is available from USDA at www.farmers.gov.

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