News

Agriculture benefited the least in initial Paycheck Protection Program loans

A study shows Midwestern states benefited more from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program.

The Bloomberg study looked at loan amounts compared to the percentage of eligible payroll during the first ten days of the program.  They found Nebraska had 75% of eligible payrolls funded totaling two-point-seven billion dollars across more than 18-thousand loans.  North Dakota had 71% of their eligible payrolls funded, with Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma all between 61% and 69% funded. 

That’s not an accurate gauge of where the most money went.  The same study showed states like Illinois had 45% of eligible payrolls funded but received more than 12-billion dollars, and California’s rate was 24% but brought in nearly 21-billion.  Ohio had 51% funding bringing in more than 10-billion dollars, and Michigan had 39% of payrolls funded but received more than 7-billion dollars.

The study does not show how much of the 248-billion dollars went to farms and agriculture-related businesses, but American Farm Bureau Federation economist Veronica Nigh says the vast majority of PPP funding went to sixteen other sectors with Construction, professional services, and manufacturing getting the most program loans.  A study she released Friday shows the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting sector had the lowest total value of program loans.

The Paycheck Protection Program ran out of money Thursday.  Congress is discussing additional funding, but Democrats blocked a Republican funding bill April 9^th.