This afternoon senior staff for Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins called USApple to provide advance notice that they would be rolling out the Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers Program. This is the program that was first announced in early December, providing $11 billion to growers of major crops and $1 billion to growers of specialty crops and sugar.
Though USApple and our coalition partners in the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance urged an approach like MASC or CFAP 2, the Department is structuring the program to be in line with the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program for the major crops.This means the payments will be based on acreage not revenue. Growers will need to work with their local FSA offices to submit relevant data for their operation by March 13. USApple will continue to work with USDA to better understand the structure of the program and how best to advise our members to utilize it.
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