News

Small Business Administration, USDA tour PPP sites

Photo: Bob Duckart giving SBA and USDA officials a tour of his fresh cranberry packing facility near Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin.

USDA and Small Business Administration officials are seeing first-hand how relief programs like the Paycheck Protection Program are helping farmers.

Rob Scott

Rob Scott is the Regional Administrator for the Small Business Administration, and he says SBA has been successfully cross-promoting programs with the USDA to help farm businesses find the right combination of COVID-19 assistance. “Most of these folks that we’re touring, they had the PPP program so they had the same exact issues that, you know, they have in urban areas that they have in the rural areas. They want to keep their folks employed and certainly, with the uncertainty of 2020, there are a lot of questions.”

Cranberry farmer Bob Duckart with the Jacob Searls Cranberry Company tells Brownfield the Paycheck Protection Program really helped his operation. “Yes, it did. I mean I actually hired a couple of extra people for the summer because of the program and nobody got laid off here and everybody worked, and they’re all going to get all of the benefits that they get in the normal years.”

Scott says President Trump has proposed additional assistance to businesses including farms to help deal with the pandemic, and he expects details to be coming soon.

Add Comment

Your email address will not be published.


 

Stay Up to Date

Subscribe for our newsletter today and receive relevant news straight to your inbox!