Congress on December 22 included up to $1 billion to assist contract chicken farmers for revenue losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic in its most recent COVID-19 aid package. The aid bill was combined with FY2021 appropriations and signed by President Trump before the new year.
The over $900 billion COVID-19 portion of the package contains language that would authorize USDA to provide up to $1 billion in assistance to contract chicken growers for revenue losses sustained as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This fund is earmarked specifically for contract growers of livestock and poultry to cover up to 80 percent of revenue losses. USDA previously held that it did not have the authority to provide such assistance to farmers under contract.
“On behalf of the chicken industry and our farm families across the country, I want to personally thank Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) for his leadership and his support in helping to secure this vital funding,” said National Chicken Council (NCC) President Mike Brown. “USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue, Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), Congressmen Robert Aderholt (R-AR), Jim Costa (D-CA), Steve Womack (R-AR) and Trent Kelly (R-MS), and the Senate and Congressional Chicken Caucuses were also instrumental in this effort. It would not have been possible without the support of the American Farm Bureau Federation and dozens of state poultry federations who all have worked for many months to make this a reality.”
Additionally, several states (Delaware, Maryland and Mississippi) had secured revenue-loss relief funding at the state level.
The federal revenue loss assistance falls within a larger $11.1 billion fund appropriated to the discretion of the Secretary of Agriculture to compensate a broad range of agricultural producers for COVID-19-related losses. Funding was also included to assist poultry producers for depopulation efforts taken place during the pandemic.
FY2021 appropriations, which provide government funding through September 30, 2021, total roughly $1.4 trillion.
