The money comes from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to support the dairy industry and food security, such as produce purchasing programs for food banks, according to press release on June 16.

“I’m extremely proud of our agricultural industry, which was hit with the most drastic market changes, yet they continued to show up for their communities,” said Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding in the press release. “The industry understands that hunger should not be our next pandemic and took action. I’m grateful that the governor is ensuring that our farmers, and in particular our dairy farmers, receive much-needed financial support.”

The state will direct $20 million to specifically aid dairy farmers, including $15 million in direct payments to farms as relief, and $5 million to reimburse dairy farmers participating in the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System (PASS).

PASS allows farmers to donate excess dairy product to the state’s charitable food system.

Each farm would receive $1,500 and a prorated share of the remaining money. An application for the relief can be found at agriculture.pa.gov/documents.

The remaining $20 million would support food purchasing and distribution programs. The State Food Purchase Program, which provides cash grants to counties for the purchase and distribution of food to low-income individuals would receive $15 million. Five million dollars would go to the PASS program to reimburse the agriculture industry for costs in harvesting, processing, packaging and transporting food donated to the charitable system.