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President Donald J. Trump and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced up to an additional $14 billion for agricultural producers who continue to face market disruptions and associated costs because of COVID-19. Signup for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP 2) began September 21 and will run through December 11, 2020.

Background:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will use funds being made available from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Charter Act and CARES Act to support row crops, livestock, specialty crops, dairy, aquaculture and many additional commodities. USDA has incorporated improvements in CFAP 2 based from stakeholder engagement and public feedback to better meet the needs of impacted farmers and ranchers.

Producers can apply for CFAP 2 at USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) county offices. This program provides financial assistance that gives producers the ability to absorb increased marketing costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Producers will be compensated for ongoing market disruptions and assisted with the associated marketing costs.

CFAP 2 payments will be made for three categories of commodities – Price Trigger Commodities, Flat-rate Crops and Sales Commodities.  Aquaculture is included under Sales Commodities.

Aquaculture Eligibility

Aquaculture eligible for CFAP 2 includes any species of aquatic organisms grown as food for human consumption, fish raised as feed for fish that are consumed by humans, and ornamental fish propagated and reared in an aquatic medium. Eligible aquaculture species must be raised by a commercial operator and in water in a controlled environment. This includes molluscan shellfish and seaweed that was previously covered under the U.S. Department of Commerce program.

Eligible sales only include sales of raw commodities grown by the farmer. The portion of sales derived from adding value to the commodity, such as processing and packaging, and from sales of products purchased for resale is not included in the payment calculation.

CFAP 2 payments are available for eligible producers of aquaculture commodities, which are categorized as sales commodities. Payment calculations will use a sales-based approach, where producers of eligible commodities are paid based on five payment gradations associated with their 2019 sales.

CFAP 2 Payments for Aquaculture

Payments for aquaculture eligible for CFAP 2 will be based on the producer’s 2019 sales of eligible commodities in a declining block format using the following payment factors, and will be equal to:

1. The amount of the producer’s eligible sales in calendar year 2019, multiplied by
2. The payment rate for that range.

Payments for aquaculture farmers who began farming in 2020 and had no sales in 2019 will be based on the farmer’s actual 2020 sales as of the farmer’s application date.

Eligible sales only include sales of raw commodities grown by the producer. The portion of sales derived from adding value to the commodity, such as processing and packaging, and from sales of products purchased for resale, is not included in the payment calculation.

Apply for Coronavirus Food Assistance Program 2

USDA’s Farm Service Agency offers multiple options for producers to apply for CFAP 2. Those include:

Farmers with an eAuthentication account can now apply for CFAP 2 via our CFAP 2 Application Portal. Step-by-step instructions are available in our CFAP 2 Application Portal User Guide. Applications are completed, electronically signed, and submitted directly to your local Service Center through this online system. Farmers interested in creating an eAuthentication account should visit farmers.gov/sign-in to learn more.

Farmers who are interested in filling out the CFAP 2 application manually can download the application form, AD-3117, to fill out and return to the FSA office at their local USDA Service Center. Instructions for form AD-3117 are available for farmers to reference when filling out the form.

The CFAP 2 Application Generator and Payment Calculator is an Excel workbook that allows you to input information specific to your operation to determine estimated payments and populate the application form, which you can then print, sign, and submit to the FSA office at your local USDA Service Center.

Microsoft Excel is required to use this workbook. Please click the workbook link and select the option to save to your computer. Internet Explorer users, you may experience an error if you try to open the workbook online instead of saving. Once saved, you will need to open the file on your computer and enable editing and/or enable macros at the top of the Excel sheet to input information specific to your operation.

Assistance with Applying

USDA Service Centers are open for business, including some that are open to visitors to conduct business in person by appointment only. While most offices are open by phone appointment only, FSA will work with producers by phone and use email and online tools to process CFAP 2 applications. Please call the FSA office at your local USDA Service Center to schedule an appointment if you’d like assistance or have questions about applying for CFAP 2. You can find contact information for your local USDA Service Center at the bottom of the page, and check the status of your local USDA Service Center at farmers.gov/coronavirus/service-center-status.

A call center is available for producers who would like additional one-on-one support with the CFAP 2 application process. Please call 877-508-8364 to speak directly with a USDA employee ready to offer assistance. The call center can provide service to non-English speaking customers. Customers will select 1 for English and 2 to speak with a Spanish speaking employee. For other languages, customers select 1 and indicate their language to the Call Center staff.