Three weeks after the USDA launched its $16 billion farm aid program, the department has approved $2.9 billion in direct payments to producers whose businesses have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. More than 220,000 farmers have received funding so far, according to the USDA’s weekly update.
Iowa farmers have received around $314 million, the most of ant state, followed by other hard-hit Midwestern states like Nebraska producers who have received over $200 million.
Livestock producers have received about half of all money dispersed so far. The sector that has been hardest hit by the closures of schools and restaurants, outbreaks at meatpacking plants, and a wide disparity in cattle prices.