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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Saturday, March 29, 2025
A government shutdown this month could delay the distribution of $10 billion in economic assistance payments to row crop producers, a top USDA official said Monday.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Sunday laid out some broad details of the $10 billion in market relief for row crop producers that’s due out by March 21, asserting that the U.S. farm economy is “perhaps the worst it's been in 100 years.”
Prices for most major row crops are likely to fall again this year, keeping pressure on farmer earnings, even as prices for cattle and poultry continue to rise in 2025 due to constrained supplies, according to USDA.
House GOP leaders this week will try to hold their narrow majority together on a sweeping budget blueprint that would require at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, which face resistance from some moderate Republicans as well as some in the Senate GOP.
Farmer sentiment improved slightly in January as corn and soybean prices turned upward, according to the latest Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.
Taxpayer support for disaster aid for farmers remains significantly higher than it is for making payments to farmers as compensation for lower prices, and support for trade compensation is increasing, according to a quarterly survey.
Farmer sentiment declined in December although producers remain optimistic that economic conditions will improve over the next several years, according to the monthly Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.
Growers will still lose money on their 2024 corn and soybean crops despite the economic assistance payments approved by Congress in December, according to an analysis.
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. Iowa, Illinois and Kansas will collectively receive another 25% of the total.
