SBA holding seminars on EIDL, PPP; offers aid to agriculture

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic the SBA Vermont District Office is hosting a free daily webinar from 9 to 10 a.m. Monday to Friday to discuss Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Advance, and any pertinent updates.

To join the webinar, click here.

To join by phone, call (202) 765-1264 and when prompted enter the code 470177937#. Upon joining the call, mute the phone to cut down on the background noise and please do not place the call on hold as the hold music will be heard over the presenter.

For more information, email susan.mazza@sba.gov.

EIDL available to agricultural businesses

The administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Jovita Carranza, announced  that agricultural businesses are now eligible for SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan and EIDL Advance programs.

SBA’s EIDL portal — https://covid19relief.sba.gov/#/ — has reopened as a result of funding authorized by Congress through the Paycheck Protection Program and Healthcare Enhancement Act. The legislation provided additional funding for farmers and ranchers and certain other agricultural businesses affected by the Covid-19  pandemic.

Agricultural businesses include those engaged in the legal production of food and fiber, ranching, and raising of livestock, aquaculture, and all other farming and agricultural related industries (as defined by section 18(b) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 647(b)). Eligible agricultural businesses must have 500 or fewer employees.

The SBA will begin accepting new EIDL applications on a limited basis only, in order to provide unprecedented relief to U.S. agricultural businesses. For agricultural businesses that submitted an EIDL loan application through the streamlined application portal prior to the legislative change, SBA will move forward and process these applications without the need for re-applying. All other EIDL loan applications that were submitted before the portal stopped accepting new applications on April 15 will be processed on a first-in, first-out basis.