A study recently conducted by the Agricultural & Food Policy Center (AFPC) at Texas A&M University found that the payment limits imposed by the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) would have varying impacts across the country, but Specialty Crop producers in particular would fail to access an estimated $483 million of the funds intended to them by Congress as a result of those limits.
The study was commissioned by an alliance of specialty crop industries shortly after the CFAP rules were announced. While the group would like to see higher limits to offset more of the losses incurred by farmers, they say that these producers specifically were not set-up to access the funds CFAP would provide in the same way other agriculture industries might.
“USDA, or Congress, must integrate a change into the CFAP program for the Specialty Crop section,” says Dante Galeazzi, President and CEO of the Texas International Produce Association. “At the minimum, these producers should be eligible for the full $750,000 limit regardless of their structure or ownership model. The combination of the perishability of fresh fruits and vegetables and the inability to access markets during this pandemic created a storm of conditions that sadly resulted in farmers having to destroy or discard their crops. We are only asking that USDA allow them to access the funds the CARES Act intended for them.”
Fellow Collaborators
- California Citrus Mutual – https://www.cacitrusmutual.
com - California Fresh Fruit Association – https://www.cafreshfruit.org
- Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association – https://www.ffva.com
- Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association – https://www.gfvga.org
- National Potato Council – https://www.
nationalpotatocouncil.org - Northwest Horticulture – https://nwhort.org
- Texas Citrus Mutual – https://texascitrusindustry.
com/texas-citrus-mutual/ - Texas Department of Agriculture – https://texasagriculture.gov
- Western Growers Association – https://www.wga.com
