USDA Gave Dairies $790 million in Relief

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that dairy farmers received $790 million in Coronavirus Financial Assistance Program 2 (CFAP 2) benefit thus far.

Wisconsin dairy farmers received more than 20 percent of that assistance, coming in at $176 million. There were 4,025 approved applications for dairy assistance in Wisconsin, averaging $43,726 per farm. California had 441 dairy farmers with approved applications, totaling almost $92 million ($208,163 per farm). New York dairy farmers received $87.6 million, with 1,624 approved applicant receiving $53,940 per farm.

USDA reports it has shelled out more than $7.6 billion in CFAP 2 total payments. A total of 443,126 farm applicants were approved for these payments. The average payment for all farms was $17,151 per farm.

Iowa received the most total CFAP 2 payments, at nearly $777 million. The bulk of Iowa’s total came in acreage-based payments of just under $500 million. Iowa dairy farmers received just $26 million. Wisconsin received a total of $377 million in CFAP 2 payments, which means dairy payments made up 47 percent of that total.

Unfortunately USDA is no longer accepting and processing CFAP 2 applications as of Dec. 11.