Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue Monday announced details of the trade assistance package for farmers hurt by the President’s trade agenda. The $12 billion package will provide payments to producers as part of a “short-term relief strategy” to protect agriculture. The Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency will administer the Market Facilitation Program to provide payments to corn, cotton, dairy, hog, sorghum, soybean and wheat producers starting September 4th, 2018. It’s important to note that payments will be based on actual production. Producers must harvest a crop and provide their production numbers to USDA before payment can be sent. The payments to producers will total $4.7 billion. Also included in the relief package, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service will administer a Food Purchase and Distribution Program to purchase up to $1.2 billion in commodities targeted by “unjustified” retaliation. And, through the Foreign Agricultural Service’s Agricultural Trade Promotion Program, $200 million will be made available to develop foreign markets for U.S. agricultural products.
Payments include:
Soybeans 1.65 per bushel for 50 percent of production
Corn One cent per bushel for 50 percent of production
Pork 50 percent of the total number of pigs on hand as of August 1, $8 per pig.
Cotton Six cents per pound of 50 percent production.
Sorghum 86 cents per bushel of 50 percent production
Dairy The margin protection historic number at 12 cents per hundredweight times that production number. USDA has a number for 21,000 producers but for&; those who don’t have it can be calculated by USDA.
Eligible applicants must have an ownership interest in the commodity, be actively engaged in farming, and have an average adjusted gross income for tax years 2014, 2015, and 2016 of less than $900,000. Applicants must also comply with the provisions of the “Highly Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation” regulations. On September 4, 2018, the first MFP payment periods will begin. The second payment period, if warranted, will be determined by the USDA.
The initial MFP payment will be calculated by multiplying 50 percent of the producer’s total 2018 actual production by the applicable MFP rate. If the Commodity Credit Corporation announces a second payment period, the remaining 50 percent of the producer’s total 2018 actual production will be subject to the second MFP payment rate. Payments are capped per person or legal entity at a combined $125,000 for dairy production or hogs. Payment for dairy production is based off the historical production reported for the Margin Protection Program for Dairy. Payment for hog operations will be based off the total number of head of live hogs owned on August 1, 2018.
