Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announces an initiative in rural e-connectivity at the Agriculture Department earlier in December.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announces an initiative in rural e-connectivity at the Agriculture Department earlier in December. Cliff Owen/AP

Agriculture Readies Second Round of Tariff-Related Farm Aid

Trump joins farm groups in welcoming money, with only a fraction delivered.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Monday won mostly plaudits from farm groups with his announcement of a “second and final round of trade mitigation payments aimed at assisting farmers suffering from damage due to unjustified trade retaliation by foreign nations.”

Coming just as the 2019 farm bill has cleared Congress and awaits a likely signature from President Trump, the new round of payments adds $9.6 billion to commodity producers hit by retaliatory tariffs from nations such as China. It follows the $12 billion in agency re-routed funds the administration announced in July after coming under fire for launching what some call a trade war.

“The president reaffirmed his support for American farmers and ranchers and made good on his promise, authorizing the second round of payments to be made in short order,” Perdue said in a statement. “While there have been positive movements on the trade front, American farmers are continuing to experience losses due to unjustified trade retaliation by foreign nations. This assistance will help with short-term cash flow issues as we move into the new year.”

The earlier rollout of the unusual initiative had been criticized for slow delivery and for allegedly tilting toward urban recipients rather than practicing farmers. An Agriculture Department spokesman told Government Executive on Tuesday that as of Monday, $2.3 billion out of the original $12 billion had been paid to farmers. The top receiving states are Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and Nebraska, and the top crops receiving the subsidies are soybeans, corn, wheat, dairy and sorghum.

Farmers must sign up and qualify by income for the payments. The sub-agencies running the programs include the Farm Service Agency, which administered direct payments to get food producers through the first half of their 2018 production; the Agricultural Marketing Service, whose food purchase and distribution program purchased up to $1.2 billion in commodities hit by foreign tariffs; the Foreign Agricultural Service’s Agricultural Trade Promotion program, which contributed $200 million to develop foreign markets; and the Food and Nutrition Service, which is distributing commodities through nutrition assistance programs.

Trump tweeted in celebration on Monday: “Today I am making good on my promise to defend our Farmers & Ranchers from unjustified trade retaliation by foreign nations. I have authorized Secretary Perdue to implement the 2nd round of Market Facilitation Payments. Our economy is stronger than ever–we stand with our Farmers!”

The new payments were also welcomed by the American Farm Bureau Federation. “This latest trade mitigation package announcement will help our farmers and ranchers weather the continuing trade storm,” said President Zippy Duvall.

“We continue to feel price pressure and very real economic damage due to the trade actions other nations have taken against our U.S. farm exports,” he added. “While this assistance package will help a number of our farm families during this year of severe economic challenge, the best way to provide lasting relief is to continue pushing for trade and tariff reform from trading partners like China, Canada, Mexico, India, Turkey and the European Union.”

The National Milk Producers Association had a mixed reaction. “The tariff-mitigation payment for dairy farmers in this second round of payments is less than we had hoped for, but it will provide some assistance during difficult times,” said President and CEO Jim Mulhern. “The tit-for-tat tariffs that prompted these mitigation payments continue to inflict damage across the farm economy.”

Also disappointed in the size of the payments was the National Corn Growers Association. “One cent per bushel is woefully inadequate to even begin to cover the losses being felt by corn farmers,” said President Lynn Chrisp, in a release. “USDA did not take into account the reality that many of our farmers are facing” right now.

The nonprofit Environmental Working Group, which advocates and educates on health issues, had on Nov. 19 released a critical analysis of the earlier round of payments. “Unfortunately, President Trump’s farmer bailout program is not necessarily helping the farmers most threatened by his escalating trade war,” the group's communications deputy director, Sarah Graddy, told Government Executive on Tuesday.

Environmental Working Group research using USDA data show that, so far, more than 1,000 city dwellers have received “bailout money” and the top 10 percent of all recipients have received 68 percent of all funds, she said. “These numbers match trends EWG has been tracking for years, which indicate that federal farm subsidies tend to benefit the largest, most financially secure farmers–or those who have a financial interest in a farm, but may never set a foot on it, let alone drive a tractor.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.