COVID-19 Agriculture Resources

Resources and Recommendations for Our Agricultural Community

EIDL Application Re-Opening for Ag Businesses!

If you are an ag business that was unable to take advantage of the SBA EIDL Loan/Advance Program there is good news!  The re-opening of the portal is for agricultural businesses that were previously ineligible for the program. New non-agricultural business applications will not be accepted.

The portal will be opened for a limited period, and it is recommended that you apply as soon as possible. The link to the portal will be: http://www.sba.gov/Disaster

If you have already applied under the streamlined application (March 30th to program closure), there is no need to re-apply.

Primary recommendations for farmers and their labor forces:

• Increase cleaning of common areas.
• Increase social distancing through alternative scheduling or modified tasks to keep employees 6 ft from one another.
• Communicate and encourage employees to be transparent about their own health and to stay home if feeling ill.
• Limit or decrease significantly on farm meetings of 5 or more individuals as well as meetings outside consultants unless absolutely essential.

The following links provide recommended resources and best practices for the farming community.

• North Country Ag Team Blog Post
• Video Training on Covid Safety 
• NYS Ag & Markets Updates
• Farm Bureau News and Updates
• H2A Information 
• CARES Act
• USDA Food Assistance Program
• Managing Stress
  
• Dairy Market Update
• Using Surplus Milk as Fertilizer
• Reducing Milk Flow without Harming Cows or Future Production
• Gardening During COVID-19

Last updated May 4, 2020