USDA has started issuing approximately $270 million in payments to contract producers of eligible livestock and poultry who applied for Pandemic Assistance. Bobbie Kriz-Wickham with the Nebraska Farm Service Agency says The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, provided funding for payments to contract producers of eligible livestock and poultry for revenue losses from Jan. 1, 2020, through Dec. 27, 2020.

She says in August USDA released the improved program for contract producers to fill gaps in assistance with the initial program. It was made more equitable by considering 2018 or 2019 revenue when calculating payments and accounted for expansion or operations just starting in 2020 when the pandemic hit.

Kriz-Wickham says organic producers can now also apply for similar Pandemic assistance.

Those applications will be accepted at county Farm Service Agency offices through January 7, 2022.