The financial losses that agricultural fairs have experienced due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic would be offset under bipartisan legislation introduced last week by U.S. Reps. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and Billy Long (R-MO).
“Not only do fairs give us an opportunity to come together and better understand where our food comes from, but they also serve as an economic opportunity for many of our rural communities by supporting thousands of jobs and giving farmers a way to promote their products,” Rep. Newhouse said. “The federal government can and must take such measures to prevent unmitigated and devastating losses to these vital sectors of local agricultural economies, which are prohibited from operating by state government mandates.”
The Agricultural Fairs Rescue Act, H.R. 2424, which Reps. Newhouse and Long cosponsored on April 8 with bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), would direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a program that would award grants to states or state departments of agriculture for the purposes of providing support to agricultural fairs for losses sustained due to COVID-19, according to the congressional record bill summary.
“Our fairs have suffered very substantial, if not devastating, losses due to COVID-19,” Rep. Long pointed out, noting that if enacted, H.R. 2424 would offer “critical and strategic relief to a vulnerable industry in dire need of our assistance.”
Specifically, the bill would authorize $500 million in Agricultural Fair Rescue Grants for agricultural fairs administered by the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), the text of the bill states.
“Fairs in central Washington and around the country generate billions of dollars that simply cannot be replaced or recouped without the ability to operate,” said Rep. Newhouse. “I am proud to work with my colleagues…to introduce legislation that provides much-needed relief grants to fairs that are unable to generate any revenue due to COVID-19.”