Texas farmers will receive about 10% of the $9.7 billion in market relief payments that Congress authorized in its year-end funding bill, according to a University of Missouri analysis.
Texas, the largest producer of cotton, the crop with the largest payment per acre, will get $963.5 million in payments, followed by Iowa with $845.7 million, Illinois ($790.2 million) Kansas ($786.9 million), Nebraska ($625.4 million) and Minnesota ($615.5 million), according to the analysis.
The payments are intended to compensate row crop producers for recent declines in market prices and serve as a bridge to a new farm bill.
According to the analysis, the payment rate for cotton will be $87.26 per acre. Rates for other crops: $77.66 for oats, $76.30 for peanuts, $69.52 for rice, $42.58 for sorghum, $42.51 for corn, $30.69 for wheat, $29.50 for soybeans and $21.76 for barley.
The payments are calculated as either 26% of the economic loss for each eligible crop, or a minimum payment rate worth 8% of the product of the statutory reference price times the Price Loss Coverage program yield.
In the case of barley, peanuts and rice, the minimum payment rate will be the higher of the two options, the analysis found.
The economic loss for a crop is the difference when the USDA’s estimated cost of production and the expected gross return per acre.
When the payments are broken down by commodity, corn growers will receive the largest share nationwide at $3.8 billion, followed by soybeans at $2.6 billion, reflecting the acreage on which those crops are grown. The third largest share of payments, $1.5 billion, will go to wheat growers. Cotton growers will receive $974.8 million, the analysis found.
The legislation signed into law Dec. 21 also provides $21 billion in assistance for losses from hurricanes and other natural disasters and extends the 2018 farm bill for another year.
