Kentucky farmers can take advantage of changes made in the federal Paycheck Protection Program. State Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles is reminding growers and livestock producers of that opportunity.
Quarles said ag involvement with the Small Business Administration is a bit unusual. “For a lot of our farm families, they’re employers too. They may not be the mega employer in an industrial park, but nonetheless they employ Kentuckians. So, if there was an opportunity to keep a Kentuckian employed with PPP rather than cutting them loose, that’s the intent of this program,” said Quarles.
The $284 billion outlined in federal funding supports a second round of PPP loans. The application round with new rules opened on January 15th. With the planting season approaching, Quarles noted this type of employment assistance can help assure seeds go in the ground. “This assistance could help make sure that our farms are running at capacity. And one thing that we do not what to do during a pandemic is egg on food insecurity,” explained Quarles.
Quarles said a record number of Americans are food insecure, adding in Kentucky that number went from one in seven a year ago to one in five now. The state ag commissioner added the changes in a second round of funding include cutting in half the qualifying reduction in gross revenue from 50 percent to 25 percent.
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