The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced new actions to help rural communities and the country’s farmers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The USDA recently unveiled a new resource guide (PDF) of federal programs to assist rural community leaders looking for federal funding and partnership opportunities to help address the pandemic.
Additionally, the USDA announced new coronavirus relief for agricultural producers, who now have more time to repay Marketing Assistance loans. The loans now mature at 12 months rather than nine, and the flexibility is available for most commodities.
USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is also ensuring that milk producers are not inappropriately penalized if they must dump their milk because of recent market disruptions caused by the pandemic as well as other flexibilities.