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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Saturday, January 18, 2025
When the Department of Agriculture changed the way it distributed Market Facilitation Program payments for the 2019 edition of the program, it also changed where a good chunk of the payments were going.
The Agriculture Department overhauled its Market Facilitation Program to broaden the number of farmers that would receive the trade aid, but officials may encounter new grumbling over the wide disparities in county payment rates.
Qualifying producers will get payments ranging from $15 to $150 an acre under this year's version of the Market Facilitation Program, with rates varying widely by county and region.
Farmers who qualify for the upcoming round of trade assistance payments will get at least $15 an acre, says Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who will release additional details of the Market Facilitation Program later in the week.
The telephone talks between U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators went well last week, potentially leading to an in-person meeting next week and an increase in Chinese imports of U.S. soybeans, according to Chinese and U.S. sources.
Livestock and poultry groups say retaliatory trade tariffs are costing their industries billions in decreased sales and loss of potential market growth.
The Trump administration is looking this week to increase the pressure on Congress to approve the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement while making progress with China in the wake of the recent meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Ag producers are more optimistic than last month about the future of the ag economy after a crop price rally, Market Facilitation Program announcement and disaster aid bill boosted producer sentiment in June.
