Blog

Courtesy of NAA:

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Farm Service Agency (FSA), is inviting aquaculture farmers (except for shellfish (bivalve molluscs), seaweed and marine fish producers in marine waters) to submit financial data in an effort to prove eligibility for the agency administered COVID-19 impacts economic assistance program.

• Information about the USDA economic assistance program, Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, can be found here.

• The Notice of Funding Availability that describes why the agency is requesting financial data and the data to be submitted should be carefully studied before farmers submit financial information is posted here.

• A fact sheet specific to the crops that they are seeking financial data (aquaculture, nursery and cut flowers) is posted here.

• The agency has set aside $637 million for nursery, cut flower and aquaculture crops once those crops prove their eligibility, applications will be accepted to apply for these funds.

• Farmers that submit information electronically through regulations.gov or in writing to FSA should be aware that any information submitted will become available for public inspection.

The purpose of the Notice of Funding Availability is for the FSA to collect financial data to prove that farms have experienced a negative financial impact, directly or indirectly, because of nationwide response to COVID-19. Currently, the FSA does not possess this data. As an alternative approach to individual farms submitting confidential business information, farmers can contact their national, regional, state or species association and request that the Association compile their information into an aggregated submittal.

The National Aquaculture Association (NAA) is preparing a response to the Notice.  Farmers that are reluctant to divulge financial information can contact Dr. Carole Engle at Engle-Stone Aquatic$ LLC and provide their information which will be compiled into the NAA response without attribution to individual farms. Dr. Engle is working independently of the NAA, she will hold your information confidential and it will not be shared to anyone. Dr. Engle can be contacted at cengle8523@gmail.com.

For farmers that are comfortable with submitting economic data to the agency or Associations that will be compiling economic data, comments are to be submitted through either of the following methods by June 22, 2020:

• Federal Rulemaking Portal – Go to regulations.gov and search for Docket ID FSA-2020-0004. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.

• Mail – Director, Safety Net Division, Farm Service Agency, US Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Stop 0522, Washington, DC 20250-0522.