BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Crawfish farmers are now eligible for a $16 billion coronavirus aid program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Crawfish are among scores of commodities added Tuesday to the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program announced in May.
Louisiana’s congressional delegation, state Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain, the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation and the LSU AgCenter have been pushing to add farmed crawfish to the list.
“For generations, crawfish have brought Louisianans together to celebrate the change in seasons, our faith, our families, and our heritage,” Louisiana’s U.S. senators and representatives said in a July 6 letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. “While the social impact of the loss of these celebrations on the people of Louisiana can never be quantified, the economic loss to the State is estimated at over $146 million for 2020.”
Program details are available at www.farmers.gov/cfap.
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