The recent CARES Act provided additional emergency funding through Small Business Administration (SBA) for businesses who are facing losses due to COVID-19. If you are a farm business, the most important program to be aware of right now is the Paycheck Protection Loan Program, which was authorized in the CARES Act. Farms that meet SBA small business thresholds are eligible to apply for this low interest, forgivable loan program. Please note that SBA’s definition of a small business and USDA’s definition of a small farm are NOT the same and you are held to the much more generous SBA standard (generally fewer than 500 employees) for this program.
Follow the link below for more information on CARES Act’s emergency resources for farm businesses:
By Elizabeth Higgins, Ag Business Management, Cornell Cooperative Extension Eastern NY Commercial Hort Team (emh56@cornell.edu or @CCE_AgMgmt)
