In an effort to appease American farmers affected by a trade war the Trump Administration is fighting on several fronts, there will be direct payments to both U.S. crop and livestock producers.
Some of the money will be used to buy surplus products for food banks and lunch programs. The majority will go towards a new ”market facilitation program” It will provide incremental payments to soybean, sorghum, cotton, dairy and hog producers.
U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson Brad Karmen expects the program details will be ready by September.
“We anticipate a simple sign-up. Basically for 2018, crop producers will tell us production, multiply it by a payment rate and they will get a payment based on that formula.”
U.S. farm group say they would prefer getting their income from the marketplace, but government assistance is needed in this new era of tariffs. Soybean prices have been especially hard hit by a 25 percent Chinese tariff issued in response to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Taxpayers For Common Sense says the announcement is a ”recipe for disaster that will undo decades of progress toward weaning U.S. agriculture from financial dependence on federal subsidies.
