Administration Releases Formula on Aid to Farmers

Farmers are now learning how much aid they can expect to receive from a $12 billion package that President Trump announced earlier this month. The Department of Agriculture released figures Wednesday for how much aid per acre farmers can plan on for each row crop. The details arrived after most farmers have already met with their bankers to arrange financing for next year's crops and placed orders for the seed and fertilizer they will need, the AP reports. Officials have promised that the payments will arrive by the end of February. Soybean farmers have been hit especially hard by Trump's trade war with China, which stopped buying any American crops after he announced his tariffs this spring.

• The relief: The aid package is intended to help farmers weather the trade disruptions until China buys more soybeans under an agreement announced in October and until provisions of Trump's massive budget bill take effect. Soybean farmers will get $30.88 per acre, while corn farmers will receive $44.36 per acre. Another crop hit hard when China stopped buying was sorghum, and those farmers will get $48.11 per acre. The amounts are based on a USDA formula on the cost of production. Payments will be capped at $155,000 per farmer or entity, and only farms that make less than $900,000 in adjusted gross income will be eligible. During the first Trump administration, a number of large farms found ways around the payment limits and collected millions.

• The future: But farmers say the aid won't solve all their problems as they continue to deal with the soaring costs of fertilizer, seeds, and labor that make it hard to turn a profit. Some agricultural trade groups have said they worry that thousands of farmers could go out of business, but others have said they believe most farmers have the financial resources and equity needed to survive. Kentucky soybean farmer Caleb Ragland, who was president of the American Soybean Association until recently, said the help is "a Band-Aid on a deep wound. We need competition and opportunities in the market to make our future brighter."
• Other uses: National Corn Growers Association President Jed Bower also urged the Trump administration to focus on cultivating additional uses for their crops. Farmers will benefit from having more buyers, whether it is for ethanol and animal feed at home or for international markets. "Corn growers have been sounding the alarm about the fact that farmers have been faced with multiple consecutive years of low corn prices and high input costs," Bower said. "While this financial assistance is helpful and welcomed, we urgently need the administration and Congress to develop markets in the United States and abroad that will provide growers with more long-term economic certainty." Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that is the goal and promised to continue working to open new markets while strengthening the safety net for farmers.

• Totals: These aid payments will add up to $11 billion for row crop farmers who raise corn, soybeans, wheat, sorghum, and other crops. Another $1 billion has been set aside for specialty crops and sugar, but the administration hasn't released any details of aid for those crops. After Trump met with Chinese ruler Xi Jinping in South Korea in October, the White House said Beijing had promised to buy at least 12 million metric tons of US soybeans by the end of the calendar year, plus 25 million metric tons a year in each of the next three years. Officials have said China is on track to meet the 12 million metric ton goal by the end of February.