The Crush - August 2020 - 6

[ FEDERAL FOCUS ]

More Aid for Specialty Crop Producers, Please

HOUSE AG SUBCOMMITTEE MEMBERS URGE USDA TO DO MORE TO SUPPORT SECTOR
House ag subcommittee members
- including Reps. Josh Harder
(D-Modesto), TJ Cox (D-Fresno), Salud
Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) and Jimmy
Panetta (D-Carmel) - are asking USDA
to do more to assist specialty crop
producers, as the sector continues
to suffer from the impacts related to
COVID-19.
In an Aug. 7 letter to USDA Secretary
Sonny Perdue, lawmakers wrote that
the agency's Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP)
"failed to provide equitable relief to the specialty crop sector.
As of Aug. 3, USDA had provided over $6.8 billion in direct
payments to domestic farmers and ranchers. Out of that total,
only $270 million has been provided to specialty crop producers,
representing less than 4 percent of overall assistance."
The representatives want USDA to conduct targeted outreach
to specialty crop producers before CFAP's Aug. 28 deadline.
"Failure to support these specialty crop farmers will threaten the
long-term viability of their businesses and negatively impact our
communities," they wrote.

COVID-19 Stimulus
Senate Republicans on July 27
unveiled the Health, Economic
Assistance, Liability Protection, and
Schools (HEALS) Act, which would
provide $1 trillion in coronavirus
relief funding, including $20 billion
for USDA. The USDA funds can be
used "to prevent, prepare for, and
respond to coronavirus by providing
support for agricultural producers,
growers, and processors impacted by coronavirus, including
producers, growers, and processors of specialty crops, nonspecialty crops, dairy, livestock and poultry [...]."
The bill also includes $76.4 million for the Farm Service Agency
to support temporary staff and overtime costs due to increased
volume of applications in response to COVID-19.
HEALS Act ag provisions: appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Phase%20
IV%20-%20FINAL.pdf
6 / AUGUST 2020

The House's $3.5 trillion Heroes Act - approved in May -
includes $16.5 billion for direct payments to ag producers whose
commodities were impacted by COVID-19-related market
disruptions.
HEROES Act ag provisions: agriculture.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hac_heroes_
act_ag_summary__05.12.2020.pdf
Democrats and Republicans are still at an impasse regarding
stimulus discussions. CAWG's D.C. team, Cornerstone
Government Affairs reported on Aug. 10: "Since the release of the
HEALS Act, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Secretary Mnuchin
and White House Chief of Staff Meadows have been meeting
frequently to cover the wide gap between the parties. There
continues to be wide division between the Republican conference
with some vulnerable senators feeling a sense of urgency to pass
a relief bill, while fiscal conservatives have become increasingly
frustrated and vocal about increased spending. There seems
to be bipartisan agreement around increased funding for the
Paycheck Protection Program (and expanding the program to
more entities), additional funding for schools and support for
healthcare providers."

New H-2A Features for Hiring Workers
New features on USDA's Farmers.
gov H-2A webpage intend to help
facilitate farmworker hiring:
* A real-time dashboard that enables
farmers to track the status of their
eligible employer application and
visa applications for temporary nonimmigrant workers.
* Streamlining the login information so if a farmer has an
existing login.gov account they can save multiple applications
tracking numbers for quick look-up at any time.
* Enables easy access to the Department of Labor's Foreign
Labor Application Gateway.
* Allows farmers to track time-sensitive actions taken in the
course of Office of Foreign Labor Certification's adjudication of
temporary labor certification applications.
* Allows farmers to access all application forms online.
farmers.gov/manage/h2a

https://agriculture.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hac_heroes_act_ag_summary__05.12.2020.pdf https://agriculture.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hac_heroes_act_ag_summary__05.12.2020.pdf https://agriculture.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1980 https://agriculture.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1980 http://www.login.gov https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Phase%20IV%20-%20FINAL.pdf https://www.farmers.gov/manage/h2a https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Phase%20IV%20-%20FINAL.pdf

The Crush - August 2020

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