Producers- Friday is the deadline to register for round one of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, or CFAP.
“If they have not gone in and signed up for CFAP, they need to call their local office, get an appointment, get put on a register, so we can go ahead and get them enrolled into the CFAP program,” says Indiana Farm Service Agency Executive Director Steve Brown. He says producers have continued to come in and get registered as the deadline approached.
“We’ve been putting out roughly $1 million a day. I think we’re right up to $244 million today. So, we’ve continued to sign applicants up and make payments.”
Brown says there is always concern that someone might miss out on money that they are entitled to simply because they didn’t know about the program or that it would apply to them, but he’s hoping no one misses out on CFAP.
“CFAP has been a little easier to administer. I think our WHIP+ program is where I will have concerns down the road when they do announce a deadline that we might miss somebody. Sure, we have the ability to miss somebody in CFAP. Somebody might just not have heard about it. Maybe a livestock producer that is generally ineligible for payments but they are now. So, yeah, I have concerns, but I hope we’ve done a good job of getting the word out.
Brown, like the rest of us, is still awaiting details on the second round of CFAP that Secretary Sonny Perdue announced would be coming sometime this month.
As for the WHIP+ program that Brown mentioned, he says there is not a deadline currently for that program, but he foresees a deadline being created soon. More details on that program can be found here.