On Friday, September 18, President Trump and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Purdue announced that a second round of Coronavirus Food Assistance Program funding had been approved and would open to farmers and ranchers starting later this month.

By Friday afternoon, the details of the program had been revealed. The cleverly named “CFAP 2” program will provide payments for three categories of commodities: price trigger commodities, flat-rate crops, and sales commodities.

Price trigger commodities are those that, similar to the first round of CFAP, have experienced a 5 percent price decline over a specified time period. Similar to the first round, these crops include traditional ag commodities like corn, soybeans, upland cotton, and wheat, as well as livestock and dairy.

Flat-rate crops, including alfalfa, long-staple cotton, and hemp, will receive payments based on eligible acres for 2020, multiplied by a rate of $15 per acre. 

Sales commodities are mainly specialty crops, including nursery crops and floriculture, and payment calculations will use an approached based on sales. Producers will be paid based on their 2019 sales of the same commodities.

Producers will be able to apply for CFAP 2 payments starting on September 21, 2020. Just like before, all sign up will run through your county FSA office, even if you don’t normally have dealings with or apply for FSA programs.

Up-to-date information about the programs and how to sign up is available at  www.farmers.gov/cfap.  You can also check the Arizona Farm Bureau website’s USDA COVID-19 Food Assistance Program page on our Public Policy tab for helpful links and information.