Earlier this month, Klobuchar led a letter with Senator Pat Roberts to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue requesting relief for wheat farmers  

MINNESOTA– U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) announced today that following her request, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will extend eligibility to additional classes of wheat in the second round of coronavirus relief payments. When the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) was first announced, it only covered approximately 30 percent of 2019 wheat production and excluded farmers growing many types of wheat, including hard red winter wheat, which is grown in Minnesota.

Earlier this month, Klobuchar and Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, led a group of 21 Senate colleagues, including Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), in a bipartisan letter to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue requesting that funds in the CARES Act be used to help support wheat farmers who have experienced economic harm from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.  Now, the second round of CFAP, a $14 billion package, covers producers of all classes of wheat.

“Wheat farmers in Minnesota and across the country have experienced deteriorating economic conditions due to the coronavirus pandemic and we need to provide relief to all of them regardless of the class of wheat they grow,” Klobuchar said. “Today’s announcement means that all classes of wheat are now eligible for payments under the second round of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. Farmers have always been there for us, and we must be there for them.”

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