The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) added shell eggs and dried egg products to the list of commodities eligible for payments under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP). USDA had previously made liquid and frozen egg products eligible for the first round of CFAP payments.

The announcement came as USDA unveiled CFAP 2, a second program to compensate for price losses incurred by farmers and ranchers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Payments will be based on 75 percent of a producer’s 2019 production and are limited to $250,000 per individual. Entities with multiple shareholders can qualify for up to three payments of $250,000 for a total of $750,000.

Eggs are classified as a “price trigger commodity,” which USDA defines as having “suffered a five percent-or-greater national price decline in a comparison of the average prices for the week of January 13-17, 2020, and July 27-31, 2020.” Previously, the department used a period for comparison that resulted in shell eggs not qualifying for payments.

Additional information on egg (and broiler) payments is available at this USDA site and general information on CFAP can be found here. The application deadline is December 11.