Twenty Eight farm groups are asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to extend the August 28 deadline for producers to apply for pandemic relief. Nebraska Farm Bureau’s Director of National Affairs Jordan Dux says the extension is needed because some payments have been slow in getting out to help producers and some are still learning about how to apply and what the rules are.

He says all sectors of agriculture have been hit significantly by the pandemic with livestock producers seeing the toughest losses in the early stages of the crisis.

Dux says while USDA’s Farm Service Agency has done a great job in handling the aid programs, it still takes time to get all through the necessary paperwork to get all the assistance out.

The biggest pandemic aid recipients so far have been cattle and milk producers and corn farmers.