LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Dr. Ryan Quarles sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue last Thursday regarding the state of Kentucky’s agriculture economy in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the coming days and weeks, USDA will issue guidance on how it plans to distribute funding to producers secured through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES Act).
“Kentucky and American farmers, workers, and families are coming together to do what is needed to fight the coronavirus,” Commissioner Quarles wrote in the letter. “The pandemic has reminded the nation of the necessity of the seemingly invisible men and women who get food from the farm gate to the dinner plate; the American heroes preparing fields for crops, drivers transporting semi-trucks of product, and workers stocking grocery shelves and adapting to new consumer habits. We need to make sure the backbone of the American economy – our farmers and workers – are made whole after this pandemic has passed.”
Commissioner Quarles also highlighted the potential economic disruption to the state’s beef, poultry, dairy, tobacco, produce, equine, grain, and other farm sectors.
For the full letter click here.
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