USDA Issues Final Pandemic Payments for Timber Harvesters, Haulers

The USDA is out with its final pandemic assistance payments for timber harvesters and timber hauling businesses through its PATHH, Pandemic Assistance for Timber Harvesters and Haulers, program. FSA administrator, Zach Ducheneaux said Congress authorized funding for this program and selected the USDA for dispersing the money due to the USDA's tremendous service delivery mechanism.

"The PATHH program is designed for producers in the timber hauling and hauling businesses and it's really targeted to those who have experienced a gross revenue loss of at least 10% between January 1st and December 1st of 2020 compared to the previous year.”

Congress authorized up to $200 million for the program through the Consolidated Appropriations Act. Ducheneaux said of that $200 million, $190 million will be used for payments with some of the funding held in reserves to cover any appeals for denied applications.

"To be eligible for payments, individuals or legal entities must have been a timber harvester or hauler where 50% of their gross revenue was derived from one or two of the following; cutting timber or transporting timber.”

Based on the number of PATHH applications filed, the payment limitation will be lowered from $125,000 to $75,000 and with a payment factor of 70.5% applied across all calculated payments to ensure program outlays do not exceed the available funding. To learn more about PATHH or to see if your operation qualifies for funding, check out the USDA's Website.

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