Check From Wisconsin Farm Support Program in the Mail, Another Round of Funding in August
Thursday, July 16th, 2020 -- 9:00 AM
(Wisconsin Ag Connection) -Wisconsin's agriculture secretary says the Department of Revenue has finished evaluating most of the online applications for the Wisconsin Farm Support Program and has already begun sending checks.In an interview with Farm Broadcaster Pam Jahnke, Randy Romanski said nearly 15,000 producers requested financial aid by the June 29 deadline. About $50 million was made available to qualifying farmers through the program as part of the state's share of the federal CARES Act. With nearly 15,000 applications submitted to the DOR's website, nearly every farmer who applied will get the maximum $3,500 that was made available as part of the WFSP perimeters. Meanwhile, Romanski says another $9- to $10 million is still available. As a result, the DOR will hold a second enrollment period between August 10-24 for those who did not have an opportunity to apply. But the DATCP chief doesn't expect payouts to be as much in that second round of funding.
The Wisconsin Farm Support Program was established at the request of state farm organizations that urged Gov. Tony Evers to help farmers facing financing hardship because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Producers of any farm commodity who had a gross income between $35,000 and $5,000,000 in 2019 were eligible to apply. Also this week, the DATCP announced that food banks and other nonprofit organizations may now apply for the Food Security and Wisconsin Products Grant program. Requests for Proposals are being accepted for an estimated $10 million in grants to help purchase Wisconsin food products for distribution to people experiencing food insecurity. That sign-up period goes through July 29.
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