Island farmers to receive $600,000 in federal funds for transport costs

By The Star Staff

Thanks to a federal investment of nearly $600,000, 192 farmers and ranchers in Puerto Rico will receive financial aid to offset part of the cost of transporting their products, Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón announced Monday.

The resident commissioner said that as part of her efforts in Congress, “I have filed petitions to maintain the necessary funds for the Geographically Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Transportation Cost Reimbursement Program (RTCP) with the [House] Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and agencies related to the Appropriations Committee.”

“I am glad to see that those efforts have paid off. This program generates relief for our producers within the economic burdens that continue to increase and even more so with economic challenges such as inflation and increased fuel prices.”

The RTCP is a program under the Farm Service Agency, which in turn is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture.

The benefit seeks to help eligible farmers and ranchers outside the contiguous United States, including those in Puerto Rico, offset a portion of the cost of transporting agricultural products or inputs used to produce an agricultural product over long distances. This year, 882 producers will benefit from the $2 million assigned to the program, of which $600,000 will go to producers from Puerto Rico who have already requested it.