Emergency Relief Program and American Port Access Privileges Act

**Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says to date, agricultural producers have received more than $4 billion through the Emergency Relief Program, representing roughly 67% of the more than $6 billion projected to be paid through this first phase of the program.

The USDA mailed out pre-filled applications in late May to producers with crop insurance who suffered losses due to natural disasters in 2020 and 2021.

Commodity and specialty crop producers have until July 22 to complete applications.

**Two California Democrats have introduced the American Port Access Privileges Act in the House of Representatives, a follow up to the Ocean Shipping Reform Act.

Representative Jim Costa says, “We need to remove bottlenecks and mitigate congestion at our ports to carry out American exports.”

The legislation is endorsed by the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, National Milk Producers

Federation, and the California Farm Bureau Federation.

**The USDA is now offering additional commodities and features on its free USDA Market News App.

The App provides producers and others with instant access to market information about conventional and organic products.

Version 2.0 includes, among other things, Dairy and Specialty Crops, as well as the ability to filter searches by Commodity.

The USDA Market News app is available in both iOS and

Android and can be downloaded through the Apple and Google Play stores.