August 22, 2021
WASHINGTON, D.C. | U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik has announced two updates to a $350 million U.S. Department of Agriculture pandemic assistance program that will now help prioritize North Country farmers.
The Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program was passed by Congress in December to support dairy farmers impacted by COVID-19 and improvements to the Dairy Margin Coverage program and Stefanik said the department will now update their feed cost formula to better reflect the actual costs farmers pay for high-quality feed.
In an Aug. 20 announcement, Stefanik said “I am proud to announce USDA’s two updates that will prioritize North Country dairy farmers. Our dairy farmers have worked hard, despite the unforeseen market changes due to the coronavirus pandemic, and their needs deserve to be met.”
“Additionally, I am proud USDA will now better reflect feed prices, which will benefit individual farmers. I will always make the needs of our North Country dairy farmers a top priority of mine and look forward to ensuring these programs work as intended to benefit our farmers.”
The Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program will provide $350 million in payments to reimburse farmers who received a lower value for their products due to market abnormalities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, Stefanik said, the USDA will make improvements to the Dairy Margin Coverage program to update the feed cost formula to better reflect the actual cost dairy farmers pay for high quality feed-making the change a permanent part of the dairy safety net and retroactive to January 2020.
It is expected to provide additional retroactive payments of about $100 million for 2020 and 2021, and provide an added $80 million per year in support to dairy farmers.
Read the full article here: https://suncommunitynews.com/
