Advocate

Action Alert - 5/20/20

This alert was distributed via email to subscribers of the GFB Legislative Team's Action Alert on May 5, 2020.
 

订阅GFB的行动提醒

White House & 美国农业部通过冠状病毒食品援助计划提供直接付款的详细信息

On May 19, 2020, President Trump and USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue provided details for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), which will provide roughly $16 billion in direct payments to farmers who have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. 这些款项是对美国农业部农民家庭食品箱计划的补充, 美国农业部通过该计划购买了30亿美元的新鲜农产品, dairy, 和肉分发给有需要的美国人. 下面您将找到来自a的信息 USDA press release outlining eligible commodities, 付款结构及限制, application instructions, and more.

我们鼓励您查看项目细节并访问 farmers.gov, where you will find several forms that will need to be completed and submitted to your local FSA office when sign up begins on May 26. USDA expects payments to begin going out to producers seven to ten days after sign up opens, 报名期将持续到8月28日, 2020.

Additionally, last Friday evening, the Small Business Administration (SBA) released its Loan Forgiveness Application for Payroll Protection Program participants. 更多信息，包括表格和详细说明，可以在下面找到.

As always, please feel free to reach out to Georgia Farm Bureau’s Public Policy Department with any questions.

美国农业部:农民和牧场主将获得与COVID-19相关损失的直接支持

Beginning May 26, the U.S. 美国农业部(USDA), 通过农场服务局(FSA), 是否会接受遭受损失的农业生产者的申请.

Background

CFAP provides vital financial assistance to producers of agricultural commodities who have suffered a five-percent-or-greater price decline due to COVID-19 and face additional significant marketing costs as a result of lower demand, surplus production, 扰乱运输模式，扰乱商品有序销售.

农民和牧场主将从两个可能的资金来源获得直接支持. 第一个资金来源是9美元.50亿美元的冠状病毒援助拨款, Relief, and Economic Stability (CARES) Act to compensate farmers for losses due to price declines that occurred between mid-January 2020, and mid-April 2020 and provides support for specialty crops for product that had been shipped from the farm between the same time period but subsequently spoiled due to loss of marketing channels. The second funding source uses the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to compensate producers for $6.由于持续的市场中断，造成了50亿美元的损失.
 

Non-Specialty Crops and Wool

符合CFAP支付条件的非专业作物包括麦芽, canola, corn, upland cotton, millet, oats, soybeans, sorghum, sunflowers, durum wheat, and hard red spring wheat. Wool is also eligible. Producers will be paid based on inventory subject to price risk held as of January 15, 2020. A payment will be made based 50 percent of a producer’s 2019 total production or the 2019 inventory as of January 15, 2020, whichever is smaller, 乘以商品的适用支付率.
 

Livestock

符合CFAP资格的牲畜包括牛、羔羊、一岁仔和猪. The total payment will be calculated using the sum of the producer’s number of livestock sold between January 15 and April 15, 2020, 乘以人均支付率, 4月16日至5月14日牲畜存栏数最高, 2020, 乘以人均支付率.
 

Dairy

For dairy, the total payment will be calculated based on a producer’s certification of milk production for the first quarter of calendar year 2020 multiplied by a national price decline during the same quarter. The second part of the payment is based a national adjustment to each producer’s production in the first quarter.
 

Specialty Crops

For eligible specialty crops, the total payment will be based on the volume of production sold between January 15 and April 15, 2020; the volume of production shipped, but unpaid; and the number of acres for which harvested production did not leave the farm or mature product destroyed or not harvested during that same time period, 没有也不会卖的. Specialty crops include, but are not limited to, almonds, beans, broccoli, sweet corn, lemons, iceberg lettuce, spinach, squash, strawberries and tomatoes. 合格作物的完整列表可在 farmers.gov/cfap. 其他作物可能在以后被认为符合条件.
 

Eligibility

There is a payment limitation of $250,000 per person or entity for all commodities combined. Applicants who are corporations, limited liability companies or limited partnerships may qualify for additional payment limits where members actively provide personal labor or personal management for the farming operation. Producers will also have to certify they meet the Adjusted Gross Income limitation of $900,除非他们至少75%或更多的收入来自农业, 牧场或与林业有关的活动. Producers must also be in compliance with Highly Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation provisions.
 

Applying for Assistance

生产商可以从2020年5月26日开始申请援助. 更多资料及申请表格可浏览 farmers.gov/cfap. 所有合资格商品的生产商可透过其本地FSA办事处提出申请. 可要求提供支持生产商申请和认证的文件. FSA has streamlined the signup process to not require an acreage report at the time of application and a USDA farm number may not be immediately needed. 申请截止日期为2020年8月28日.
 

Payment Structure

确保在整个申请期间都有足够的拨款, producers will receive 80 percent of their maximum total payment upon approval of the application. 付款的剩余部分, not to exceed the payment limit, 是否会在资金充足的情况下晚些时候支付.

美国农业部服务中心只接受电话预约, 现场工作将继续进行，并保持适当的社会距离. 而项目交付人员将继续进入办公室, 他们将通过电话与制片人合作，并尽可能使用在线工具. 所有希望与FSA开展业务的服务中心访客, 自然资源保育署, or any other Service Center agency are required to call their Service Center to schedule a phone appointment. 更多信息可在 farmers.gov/coronavirus.

小企业管理局发布工资保障计划贷款减免申请

This past Friday evening, the Small Business Administration (SBA) released the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan Forgiveness Application Form. 表格和详细说明可在此找到 here.

Those who have participated in PPP will need to complete and submit this form to their lender to determine the amount of the loan that is forgiven. The obligation to complete and submit the forgiveness application form rests with the PPP participant, not the lending institution. If an application for loan forgiveness is not received the entire PPP amount received by the participant will continue to be treated as a loan. SBA将发布额外的指导，以帮助借款人完成表格. 借款人可以在6月中旬开始提交申请.

根据SBA，表格和说明包括:

  • Options for borrowers to calculate payroll costs using an “alternative payroll covered period” that aligns with borrowers’ regular payroll cycles;
  • Flexibility to include eligible payroll and non-payroll expenses paid or incurred during the eight-week period after receiving their PPP loan;
  • Step-by-step instructions on how to perform the calculations required by the CARES Act to confirm eligibility for loan forgiveness;
  • Borrower-friendly implementation of statutory exemptions from loan forgiveness reduction based on rehiring by June 30; and
  • Addition of a new exemption from the loan forgiveness reduction for borrowers who have made a good-faith, 重新雇用被拒绝的工人的书面提议.


农民应该咨询他们的会计, tax preparer and/or financial advisor about the PPP Loan Forgiveness Application form to ensure all the proper documentation has been completed.

Public Policy Department Staff
Jeffrey Harvey, Director
乔·麦克马纳斯，副局长
Alex Bradford，国家事务协调员
雷诺·丘吉尔，农业项目专家
特里普·科菲尔德，国家政策顾问
凯蒂·杜瓦尔，倡导和政策发展协调员
我是蕾妮·琼斯，办公室协调员
杰里米·泰勒，农业项目专家