Hoeven: USDA Releases Details on $10 Billion in Market-Based Disaster Assistance, Begins Accepting Applications March 19

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WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee and a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has begun accepting applications for the $10 billion in market-based assistance that he worked tosecureas part of the year-end legislation in December. Hoeven has been working with Agriculture Secretary Rollins to implement and quickly deliver the assistance, encouraging USDA to utilize a streamlined application process to help ensure an efficient and timely process. At the same time, the senator continues his efforts to secure a new farm bill that makes needed investment in the farm safety net to help prevent the need for future ad-hoc disaster assistance.
Details of the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) are as follows:
“This $10 billion in assistance is an important step to help producers recover from the challenging markets and comes as part of our commitment to keep our farmers and ranchers in the game, whether they face natural disasters, challenging markets or trade disputes,” said Senator Hoeven. “We worked to ensure a streamlined process to provide producers with certainty and timely access to assistance. Pre-filled applications will be going out shortly, and Secretary Rollins has committed to getting the funds distributed as quickly as possible, with payments to start going out by March 21.”
Additional information and resources are available to producers on USDA’s website here:https://fsa.usda.gov/ecap. Hoeven also continues working with USDA to advance the $21 billion in weather-related assistance for losses in 2023 and 2024, which includes $2 billion set aside for livestock producers, including those with losses due to wildfires.
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