With last week’s initiation of sign up for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), farmers now have some clarity on the various programs available to them and can begin to formulate their plans for meeting budget needs.

“This (CFAP) is not a farm program. It is a disaster assistance program designed to help fill in some of the holes created by the impact of the markets from the pandemic,” explained National Milk Producer Federation President and CEO Jim Mulhern on Wednesday’s DairyLivestream webcast.

With that differentiation between disaster relief and risk management in mind, we drew up a poll question for Wednesday’s audience in hopes of understanding how producers were utilizing and balancing financial aid and protection.

“Candid comments from the nation’s capital” webcast listeners were asked which risk management and disaster assistance programs they were participating in. Their responses are catalogued in the image below.

We also asked audience members to weigh in on the impact those participations are expected to have on their farming operations. More than 75% of listeners felt that available aid would cover between 25% and 75% of their pandemic losses. Full responses are included in the image below.

The “Candid comments from the nation’s capital” DairyLivestream program honed in on current program expectations, the future of dairy demand, and food bank programs that are offering relief for farmers, processors, and consumers. The broadcast welcomed special guests Mulhern, Michael Dykes, the president and CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association, and Cornell’s Andy Novakovic.

An ongoing series of events
In June, DairyLivestream will begin airing twice each month for the remainder of this year. The next broadcast will be on Wednesday, June 10 at 11 a.m. CST. Each episode is designed for panelists to answer over 30 minutes of audience questions. If you haven’t joined a DairyLivestream broadcast yet, register here. Registering once registers you for all future broadcasts.