The agency’s aid package is only eligible for this year
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
American farmers affected by disrupted trade relations could receive federal assistance this fall.
“The mitigation payments will be eligible in September in some degree and into October and the fall,” Sonny Perdue, secretary of agriculture, said during an event in Argentina over the weekend, Bloomberg reports. “It depends on when the farmer comes in and applies.”
Last week, Perdue announced up to US$12 billion in funding for three programs to help offset the estimated US$11 billion economic impact of trade tariffs on American agriculture.
The Market Facilitation Program provides cash crop, dairy and hog producers with payments. The other two programs will help fruit and vegetable growers, and also support the development of new export markets for the whole ag industry.
Farmers may only apply for these programs this year.
“It’s a one-time effort,” Perdue said, Bloomberg reported.
Growers can change their planting intentions to meet market conditions next year, Perdue added.
“The U.S. desire for global trade is to remove all tariff and non-tariff barriers. So, we hope to have all these little disputes resolved very quickly,” Perdue said.
Since the USDA announced the programs, farmers have emphasized their desire for trade, not government assistance.
“Farmers would prefer not to be subsidized,” Rick Edwards, president of the Adams County Farm Bureau in Quincy, Ill., told the Herald-Whig today. “They would rather the market provide them an opportunity to sell and make a little bit of profit.”
Economists have also assessed the potential damages of continued trade wars, notably with China.
The country has imposed 25 percent tariffs on soybeans. It imports billions of dollars worth of U.S. soybeans each year.
Those tariffs could cause farmers to lose about 59 percent of their net farm incomes, an Ohio State University study says.
And every 10-cent drop in soybean prices in Missouri is equal to US$36.3 million less of economic activity and the loss of nearly 150 jobs, a University of Missouri study estimated.