USDA releases plan for payments for specialty crop producers

Cool mornings, warm days equal great growing weather. Wheat is running late due to the wet and cool spring. Since the delayed harvest is affecting fields designated for early produce planting, there may be more burning of stubble after the baling of the wheat straw.

While the ashes of wheat straw add salts to the soil surface, good tillage practices and irrigation water management can help reduce the negative impacts on the soil. Folks talk and write about the ‘new normal,’ but each year in agriculture is a different challenge.

With the effects of the coronavirus on everyone’s life and lifestyle, figuring out what to grow and when to grow it is a real puzzle.

Speaking of COVID-19, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released a plan for payments of up to $2.1 billion for specialty crop producers. The direct payments are the second part of USDA’s coronavirus relief. The first, the Farmers to Families Food Box program, announced $1.2 billion in contracts May 8 for food box deliveries of fresh produce, dairy and precooked meat. Funding for produce box sourcing distribution was earlier estimated at $100 million per month for 6 months. The United Fresh Produce Association has a webpage dedicated to the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP).

Under the direct payment program, payments will be based on losses where prices and market supply chains were disrupted. The compensation will help growers deal with lost demand and short-term oversupply during the 2020 marketing year as a result of COVID-19.

Producers that fall into one of the following categories may be eligible to receive direct payments. Sales with a price loss of 5 percent or more between Jan. 15 and April 15, 2020, on almonds, artichokes, beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, sweet corn, cucumbers, eggplant, lemons, iceberg and romaine lettuce, dry onions, peaches, pears, pecans, bell and other types of peppers, rhubarb, spinach, squash, strawberries and tomatoes are eligible. Shipments that left the farm by April 15 and spoiled due to no market or for which no payment was received are eligible. All specialty crops are eligible for this payment. Beginning on May 26, growers of eligible commodities may apply for assistance through their local USDA Farm Service Agency. USDA said there is a payment limitation of $250,000 per person or entity for all commodities combined, although the USDA said corporations, limited liability companies or limited partnerships may qualify for additional payments if members actively provide personal labor or personal management for the farming operation.

Producers will also have to certify they meet the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) limitation of $900,000 unless at least 75 percent or more of their income is derived from farming, ranching or forestry related activities according to the USDA, and producers must also be in compliance with Highly Erodible Lands and Wetland Conservation Provisions.