USDA Risked Fraud in Farmer Aid During Pandemic, Watchdog Finds

Some farmers may have engaged in fraud to receive pandemic-era payments from the Agriculture Department, a government watchdog found Thursday.

The government aid, which aimed to help farmers who were hit by losses in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, totaled more than $30 billion in 2020 and 2021. The USDA’s Farm Service Agency distributed the payments under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, meant to support producers of commodities such as livestock and dairy.

The program was supposed to be a lifeline for farmers struggling with a loss of sales and extra costs when much of the economy locked ...