$10 billion in economic aid available
by Tammie Sloup
FarmWeek
Applications are open for a piece of $10 billion in economic assistance available through a new USDA program. The Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) provides payments to help farmers mitigate high input costs and low commodity prices from the 2024 crop year.
Authorized by the American Relief Act of 2025, payments are based on planted and prevented planted crop acres for eligible commodities. To streamline the process, Farm Service Agency (FSA) will begin sending pre-filled applications to farmers who submitted acreage reports to FSA for 2024 eligible ECAP commodities. However, farmers do not have to wait for their pre-filled ECAP application to apply and can visit fsa.usda.gov/ecap to apply using a login.gov account or contact their local FSA office to request an application.