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Friday, January 25, 2019

USDA official says farmers have gotten far less in trade aid than originally expected

A senior U.S. Department of Agriculture official said on the Adams on Agriculture program Thursday that American farmers hurting from the trade war with China may get significantly less in aid than originally expected. Agriculture Undersecretary Bill Northey said a little more than $5 billion was paid out by the beginning of January, though the administration expected to pay out $8 billion, Chuck Abbott reports for Successful Farming.

"Northey did not provide details nor was a USDA spokesman immediately available to say why the figure differed from the USDA’s earlier estimate that up to $9.6 billion in cash would go to producers of almonds, cotton, corn, dairy, pork, soybeans, sorghum, sweet cherries, and wheat," Abbott reports. "Soybean growers, hit hard by the loss of sales to China, were in line for $7.3 billion." The USDA has also said it would pay farmers $1.2 billion for food to donate and give $200 million to agriculture export groups to promote trade.

The aid payments, administered through the Market Facilitation Program, are limited to $125,000 for producers of grain, livestock, fruit, and nut producers, and are not available to those who make more than $900,000 a year, Abbott reports.

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