USDA Invests in Heath Care & Education and Shipping Container Crisis
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**USDA has designated four Florida counties as primary natural disaster areas.
According to www.agfax.com, producers in Collier, Hendry, Lee and Miami-Dade counties who suffered losses due to Tropical Storm Eta may be eligible for USDA Farm Service Agency emergency loans.
They can be used to meet various recovery needs including the replacement of essential items such as equipment or livestock, reorganization of your farm or refinancing certain debts.
www.agfax.com/2021/02/22/florida-4-counties-designated-natural-disaster-areas-to-tropical-storm-eta/
**The USDA will be investing $42.3-million to help rural residents gain access to health care and educational opportunities.
Rural areas are seeing higher infection and death rates related to COVID-19 due to several factors, including a much higher percentage of underlying conditions, difficulty accessing medical care, and lack of health insurance.
The $42.3 million includes $24 million provided through the CARES Act.
**The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance joined 70 other agriculture associations in an urgent plea to President Biden for intervention into the container shipping crisis.
The group is requesting provisions available to the Federal Maritime Commission via the Shipping Act “be immediately applied to stem the current ocean carrier practices that are so damaging to our agricultural products.”
Access to international markets is being jeopardized by this unprecedented dysfunction, which includes the rejection of U.S. ag cargo by ocean carriers that are shipping empty containers overseas to keep up with the demand for U.S.-bound goods.
