U.S. Agricultural Aid in Response to COVID-19

U.S. Agricultural Aid in Response to COVID-19

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Updated February 26, 2021
U.S. Agricultural Aid in Response to COVID-19
Introduction
Table 1. CRS Reports on COVID-19-Related
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first confirmed
Agricultural Support Programs
in the United States in mid-January 2020. In addition to the
catastrophic health crisis it created, the COVID-19
Category by Type of Support
pandemic has contributed to substantial economic upheaval
Initial legislation and funding in March 2020
across the U.S. economy, including the agricultural sector.
CRS In Focus IF11491, Supplemental Appropriations for
This In Focus summarizes the major COVID-19-related
Agriculture and Related Agencies Due to COVID-19
agricultural programs, the types of support they provide
Direct CFAP payments
(Table 2), and their implementation period, funding levels,
outlays to date, and underlying authorities (Table 3).
CRS Report R46347, COVID-19, U.S. Agriculture, and USDA’s
Relevant CRS reports on COVID-19-related programs for
Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP)
agriculture and other areas, such as for nutrition assistance
CRS Report R46395, USDA’s Coronavirus Food Assistance
programs, are identified in Table 1.
Program: Round One (CFAP-1)
Impact of COVID-19 on U.S. Agriculture
CRS Report R46645, USDA’s Coronavirus Food Assistance
The COVID-19 pandemic reduced domestic economic
Program: Round Two (CFAP-2)
activity and disrupted domestic and international supply
Commodity purchases and nutrition programs
chains for goods and services, including food and
agricultural products. Initial supply chain disruptions
CRS Report R46432, Food Banks and Other Emergency Feeding
resulted in declines in prices of many agricultural
Organizations: Federal Aid and the Response to COVID-19
commodities between January and July 2020. In addition,
CRS Report R46681, USDA Nutrition Assistance Programs:
COVID-19-related shutdowns resulted in unexpected
Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
higher marketing costs of unsold agricultural products. The
SBA forgivable loans and grants (non-USDA)
shutdowns’ impacts were most severe for perishable
CRS Insight IN11357, COVID-19-Related Loan Assistance for
commodities, such as fruits, vegetables, and milk, as well as
Agricultural Enterprises
for some market-ready livestock that could not be timely
processed (see Table 1, R46347).
CRS Report R46284, COVID-19 Relief Assistance to Smal
Businesses: Issues and Policy Options
Congressional and USDA Responses to COVID-19
Source: CRS. SBA = Smal Business Administration.
In response to agricultural supply chain disruptions,
Note: For al other CRS reports on COVID-19 and related issues,
Congress appropriated funds that the U.S. Department of
see https://www.crs.gov/resources/coronavirus-disease-2019.
Agriculture (USDA) used to provide direct payments to
affected U.S. agricultural producers (Table 2 and Table 3).
Table 2. COVID-19-Related Agricultural Support
USDA also used the general authority under the
Programs: Implementing Agency and Type of Support
Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Charter Act (P.L.
80-806; 15 U.S.C. §§714 et seq.) to provide additional
Implementing
Program
funding. Programs funded included three rounds of the
Agency
Support Provided
Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP-1, CFAP-2,
CFAP-1
USDA-FSA
Direct Payments
and CFAP-3), plus a follow-up effort to use unspent CFAP
CFAP-2
USDA-FSA
Direct Payments
dollars (CFAP-AA) (see Table 1, R46395 and R46645).
CFAP-3
USDA-FSA
Direct Payments
Congress also appropriated funds for USDA’s nutrition and
CFAP-AA
USDA-FSA
Direct Payments
food purchase and distribution programs , including the
PPP
SBA
Forgivable Loans
Farmers to Families Food Box program (F2F Food Box)
(see Table 1, R46432 and R46681). Additionally, Congress
EIDL
SBA
Grants and Loans
appropriated funds for the Small Business Administration
F2F Food Box
USDA-AMS
Commodity Purchases
(SBA) to create the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to
Source: Compiled by CRS. See Table 3 for program details.
provide forgivable loans and an emergency Economic
Notes: CFAP = Coronavirus Food Assistance Program; PPP =
Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program to provide grants to
Paycheck Protection Program; EIDL = Economic Injury Disaster Loan;
small businesses, including agricultural businesses (see
F2F = Farmers to Families; FSA = Farm Service Agency; AMS =
Table 1, IN11357 and R46284).
Agricultural Marketing Service; SBA = Smal Business Administration.
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Table 3. COVID-19-Related Agricultural Support Programs: Sign-up Period, Funding, and Authorities
Announced
Outlays
Name
Coverage Period
Funding
(02/07/21)
Source
USDA Programs

CFAP-1a
May 26, 2020, to Sept. 11, 2020b
$16.0B
$10.6B
CARES Act, CCC Charter Act
CFAP-2c
Sept. 21, 2020, to Dec. 11, 2020
$14.0B
$13.2B
CARES Act, CCC Charter Act
CFAP-3d
TBD
$11.2B
TBD
CAA 2021
Othere
Varies by targeted programs
TBD
TBD
CAA 2021
CFAP-AAf
Jan. 19, 2021, to TBD
[$3.1B]
[$2.3B]
Unspent CFAP-1 and CFAP-2
Farmer to Families
May 15, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2020
$4.5B
$4.5B
FFCRA
(F2F) Food Box 1-4g
F2F Food Box 5h
Dec. 21, 2020, to Apr. 30, 2021
[$1.5B]
TBD
CAA 2021; within CFAP-3
SBA Programs

PPP-1i
Feb. 15, 2020, to June 30, 2020
—
$7.3B (agr.)
CARES Act
PPP-2j
Jan. 11, 2021, to Mar. 31, 2021
—
TBD
CAA 2021
EIDLk
Jan. 31, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2020
—
TBD
CARES Act
Source: Compiled by CRS from the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA; P.L. 116-127); Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic
Security Act (CARES Act; P.L. 116-136); Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Charter Act (P.L. 80-806; 15 U.S.C. §§714 et seq.); and
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA 2021; P.L. 116-260).
Notes: TBD = to be determined; B = bil ion; M = mil ion. Outlays are as of February 7, 2021. Totals under the “Announced Funding” do not
add since CFAP-AA funds are from unspent CFAP-1 and CFAP-2, while F2F Food Box 5 is from CFAP-3 funding.
a. First round of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP-1) was funded with $9.5B of emergency spending authorized by the
CARES Act and $6.5B of borrowing authority available to USDA under the CCC Charter Act (see Table 1, R46395).
b. USDA extended the original deadline of August 28, 2020, by rule (85 Federal Register 49593, August 14, 2020).
c. Second round of CFAP (CFAP-2) was funded with $13.9B of CCC borrowing authority supplemented by up to $100M from CFAP-1
CARES Act funds for tobacco producers (see Table 1, R46645). CCC appropriations made possible by a $14B early CCC reimbursement
authorized in the CARES Act.
d. Third round of CFAP (as yet unnamed but referred to here as CFAP-3) authorized by the CAA 2021 (P.L. 116-260, Division N). The
$11.2B al ocated to USDA includes payments of $20 per acre for price trigger and flat rate commodities and adjustments to the sales
commodity payment formulation as specified under the CFAP-2 formulation (no outlay estimate [NE]); up to $1B for contract poultry and
livestock growers; payments to poultry and livestock growers for depopulation losses (NE); supplemental payments to cattle producers
(NE); payments to domestic users of upland and extra-long staple cotton (NE); payments to processors for losses due to insufficient
processing access (NE); payments to support biofuels producers (NE); reformulation of payments for specialized commodities with unique
price differentiation; $200M to support timber harvesting and hauling businesses; extension of 9-month marketing assistance loans to 12
months; offering recourse loans to dairy processors and marketers; and $1.5B for the F2F Food Box program.
e. Other funding in the CAA includes $100M for specialty crop block grants; $100M for local agriculture markets; $75M for farm training and
outreach; $75M for the Gus Schumacher nutrition incentive program; $200M over 10 years for nutrition research; such sums as n ecessary
for supplementary payments to the Dairy Margin Coverage program (estimated at $870M by American Farm Bureau Federation, Market
Intel, December 22, 2020); $400M for a dairy donation program; $60M for improvements to meat and poultry facilities to improve
interstate shipments; and $28M for block grants to state departments of agriculture in support of existing farm stress programs.
f. CFAP additional assistance (CFAP-AA) to “top up” CFAP-1 swine payments, for modification of existing CFAP contracts, or to include
newly eligible producers of selected commodities was announced by USDA on January 15, 2021, as a rule (86 Federal Register 4877). CFAP-
AA is to be funded with unspent funds estimated by USDA (CFAP-AA Cost Benefit Analysis, January 11, 2021) at $3.1B from the first two
rounds of CFAP, with estimated net outlays of $2.3B made available by USDA as additional payments to eligible producers. Implementation
of this rule is on temporary hold by the Biden Administration pending review; however, USDA has announced that the initial February 26
deadline is no longer in effect, that USDA wil continue to accept applications during the review period, and that producers would hav e up
to an additional 30 days to sign up.
g. USDA initiated the F2F Food Box program using authority of the FFCRA (P.L. 116-127, §1101(g)), which authorizes the Secretary of
Agriculture to “purchase commodities for emergency distribution in any area of the United States during a public health emergency
designation” during FY2020. USDA used $4B to fund the first three rounds of program activity. The program was extended to a f ourth
round by supplemental funding of $0.5B from unspent CFAP funds from the CARES Act (see Table 1; R46395, R46432, and R46681).
h. The F2F Food Box program was extended to a fifth round with funding of $1.5B (from within the $11.2B) by the CAA 2021.
i. First round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP-1), authorized by the CARES Act (P.L. 116-136, §1102), provided $349B to support SBA’s
Section 7(a) lending programs—of this amount, $7.3B in loans were made to agricultural businesses. The initial funding level was enhanced
in subsequent supplemental appropriations acts (see Table 1, IN11357 and R46284).
j. Appropriations of $284B for a second round of PPP loans (PPP-2) to qualifying businesses under the CAA 2021 (P.L. 116-260; Division N,
Title III); portion of new funding for agriculture is TBD—there was no specific carve-out for agriculture.
k. Emergency Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, authorized by CARES Act (P.L. 116-136, §1110), provided $10B in grants for
smal businesses and nonprofits (i.e., less than 500 employees) (see Table 1, IN11357 and R46284). Program data are not yet available to
determine the share provided to agricultural businesses.

Stephanie Rosch, Analyst in Agriculture Policy
Randy Schnepf, Specialist in Agricultural Policy
IF11764
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U.S. Agricultural Aid in Response to COVID-19

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