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35 farm406 Sheena Annala, Mother of 3 creating diminished assets on paper. Obtaining financing during March through May became difficult except for those calemen in strong circumstances. Conditions have started to come back since June," Wacker said. Government programs have offset some of the losses to producers who were forced to sell their commodities the first five months of 2020. In April, Secretary of Agriculture Perdue announced several programs that provided relief for farmers and ranchers. For one, producers could apply for assistance through a program that provided direct support based on actual losses where prices and supply chains impacted marketing costs resulting from a decrease in demand and short-term oversupply. e USDA also announced farm loan flexibilities, deferrals, and maturity extensions that help producers with loans coming due. In addition, the USDA is purchasing a variety of agricultural products for distribution to food banks. e Federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) applied to farms and ranches too. e concept behind the program was to keep people employed by providing funds that paid salaries. It was a loan, but if 60 percent of the amount received was used to pay workers, the PPP loan was forgiven. Farmers and ranchers applied for PPP moneys to retain their employees during the slowdown. e pandemic also created a disruption in scheduling out-of-country agricultural labor. As in most years, over 500 Montana producers applied in 2020 for certification to hire workers from other countries to work under a H2A visa program for ten months to a year. Of those who followed through and actually hired workers was the Mason family of Chester. "We have used this program for at least five years," said Janice Mason. "Presently, we have three workers from South Africa here at the farm. We paid for them to come on a round-trip ticket in March just before the pandemic hit. Since then the airlines have all but shut down. It sounded as if their tickets homeward had become unusable. We were thinking that all of the workers from South Africa would have to Stock Photo