Public Affairs
WASHINGTON, August 2, 2023 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced it is investing nearly $100 million in pandemic assistance to support merchandisers of upland and extra-long staple cotton through the Pandemic Assistance for Cotton Merchandisers (PACM) program. Under this one-time payment program, USDA will distribute available funding to merchandisers based on validated marketing volumes to the end user.
“USDA is committed to providing these resources to support cotton merchandizers as directed by Congress," said Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Moffitt. “By leveraging USDA’s existing bale identification system, USDA is streamlining program participation for ease of use, and by using a tiered payment model, USDA is ensuring this assistance is distributed across the domestic cotton merchandizing industry.”
USDA is accepting applications for the program until Sept. 29, 2023. The Secretary of Agriculture will authorize payments for validated claims (projected), per merchandiser, of $5 per bale for the first 500,000 bales; $2.50 per bale for bales 500,001 to one million; and $1.25 per bale above one million bales. Once the claim period is closed and claims have been validated, final tier rates will be adjusted to spend the full funds while maintaining the tier proportions. USDA will begin to issue payments to domestic cotton merchandisers once all applications have been reviewed.
If you were a cotton merchandiser that purchased cotton from a U.S. cotton producer or marketed cotton on behalf of a U.S. cotton producer to an end user from March 1, 2020, through Dec. 29, 2022, please visit the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Warehouse and Commodity Management Division (WCMD) website for more information, including the application and submission instructions. You may also contact AMS for more information at PACM@usda.gov.
A notice from USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service appeared in the Federal Register on August 2, 2023 with details about the program.
The PACM program is in response to the directive from Congress in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, to invest the funding to support cotton merchandisers, taking into consideration the economic impacts of COVID-19 and other supply chain disruptions.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.
#