If you are an ag business that was unable to take advantage of the SBA EIDL Loan/Advance Program there is good news! The EIDL Advance/Loan portal will be re-opening shortly (today May 4^th). The re-opening of the portal is for agricultural businesses that were previously ineligible for the program. New non-agricultural business applications will not be accepted.

The portal will be opened for a limited period, and it is recommended that you apply as soon as possible. The link to the portal will be:  http://www.sba.gov/Disaster

If you have already applied under the streamlined application (March 30th to program closure), there is no need to re-apply.

Agricultural Businesses Defined:
Agricultural businesses include those businesses engaged in the 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)).  SBA is encouraging all eligible agricultural businesses with 500 or fewer employees wishing to apply to begin preparing their business financial information needed for their application.

If you are unfamiliar with the EIDL program, we included it in a recent fact sheet. This fact sheet also covers the latest information about the Paycheck Protection Loan Program (PPP): https://bit.ly/3eW0inq.

Should I apply for PPP or EIDL?
You can apply for both the PPP and the EIDL and because the programs are so competitive if you need this help for your business is probably worth applying to both, just in case you are not able to access the other program. However, you cannot use the funds for the same purpose. So, if you do receive a PPP loan, it would be to your benefit to first use the PPP loan funds for salary because that use of the PPP is forgivable, and uses of the PPP are more restricted.  EIDL loans, for example, can be used to pay vendors and pay other operating costs.

Here is a chart summarizing the differences between the EIDL and PPP: