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USDA targets more farmers with new $12B COVID aid

The Biden administration announced $12 billion in new farm aid, and said it will seek to expand COVID assistance to producers that weren’t covered under the Trump administration’s pandemic relief programs.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday it would devote $6 billion to expand COVID support to additional recipients, including biofuels, dairy farmers who donated milk and livestock, and poultry producers who euthanized animals when meatpacking plants slowed down.

The department will also reopen applications for the last round of COVID farm assistance and spend $2.5 million on more outreach to minority communities.

The new round of relief “will help get financial assistance to a broader set of producers, including to socially disadvantaged communities, small and medium sized producers, and farmers and producers of less traditional crops,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

The new round also includes $1.1 billion in aid for cattle producers and an additional $4.5 billion for new $20-an-acre payments to producers of major crops such as corn, soybeans, wheat and cotton.

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