CFAP Changes Coming

CFAP Changes Coming

Maura Bennett
Maura Bennett

Changes are coming to the Corona Virus Food Assistance Program.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack hasn’t made any formal announcements. But in speaking with the Agripulse Agriculture Summit Vilsack did says details of the CFAP are being looked over with an eye toward changes.

Some changes are imminent while others will take more time.

Vilsack: “I expect and anticipate in the next week or so that we’re going to be able to lay out the plan in terms of what we’re going to try to do over the course of the next several weeks and months as it relates to CFAP. For some of what we can do, we can do it fairly soon because rules are in place. A system is in place. It just builds on what has been done in the past. But there are many aspects of agriculture and the food industry that were not helped in previous COVID packages for which we will have to create a new set of rules. That takes a little time to make sure we use as many as those COVID relief dollars as wisely as possible to provide as much help as equitably as possible.

Vilsack also told the Food and Ag Policy Summit that the USDA has the authority to encourage climate mitigation on farms and ranches by creating a carbon bank. A USDA carbon bank could help farmers adopt climate-smart practices and possibly set a price for each ton of carbon sequestered into the soil or trees. Vilsack says he wants to hear from producers about how a carbon bank would work. Possible uses include paying for carbon credits, guaranteeing a price for credits, and financing the improvements for capturing carbon on the farm.

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