USDA Announces Second ECAP Payment for 2024 Crop Year
The USDA is issuing a second Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) payment to support eligible producers for the 2024 crop year. This comes as part of the $10 billion authorized to provide financial relief due to rising input costs and falling commodity prices.
“USDA is issuing a second Emergency Commodity Assistance Program or better known ECAP payment to eligible producers for the 2024 crop year.”
The USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) has already distributed more than $8 billion of the available funds in initial payments.
“Of the authorized 10 billion dollars in ECAP, the USDA Farm Service Agency has already provided over 8 billion in payments to eligible producers to mitigate the impacts of increased input costs and falling commodity prices.”
According to the Deputy Undersecretary, the first ECAP payments were reduced to 85% of the full amount to ensure the total funding cap wasn’t exceeded.
“Initial ECAP payments were factored by 85 percent to ensure that the total payments did not exceed the 10 billion dollars available for funding.”
Now that the majority of the initial payments have been made and sufficient funding remains, FSA is rolling out a second ECAP payment.
“Well, after all that was paid out, FSA was issuing a second payment and this time FSA is issuing the second payment equal to 14 percent of the gross ECAP payment to eligible producers.”
Combined, the two payments bring total ECAP support to nearly full coverage:
“That’s making the final payment up to 99 percent. That’s good news.”
For eligible producers, ECAP payments are based on acreage and commodity type:
“ECAP’s assistance is calculated using a flat payment rate for eligible commodity multiplied by the eligible reported acres.”
This second ECAP payment brings welcome relief to farmers facing uncertain markets and rising production costs. Producers are encouraged to check with their local FSA office to ensure they’ve received full benefits under the 2024 ECAP initiative.
Audio Reporting by Tyron Spearman for Southeast AgNet.