With the USDA purposely stretching out its purchases of food for donation, its outlays to mitigate the impact of trade war on U.S. agriculture will rise slowly in the months ahead. Roughly $8.8 billion has been spent since last fall with the bulk of it, $8.1 billion, on Trump tariff payments to crop and livestock producers.
The USDA provided the running total for payments to farmers on Tuesday. A spokesman was not immediately available to say how much more is expected to be paid. The deadline to apply under the Market Facilitation Program, the formal name for the cash payment program, was February 14. Producers have until May 1 to provide documentation. Just before the cutoff for applications, the USDA said more than 864,000 producers had applied for nearly $8 billion in payments.
More than $500 million has been expended of the $1.2 billion allotted for food donations, said Undersecretary Greg Ibach at an Agri-Pulse conference on Monday. “We’re buying food in four phases,” said Ibach, with an eye to the capacity of food banks to store and distribute the goods. “We are halfway through. We are very much on track.”
Some $200 million was divided among export promotion groups last fall to develop new overseas markets for U.S. farm exports.
Last summer, the Trump administration said up to $12 billion was available in agricultural aid, including $9.6 billion for producers of almonds, cotton, corn, dairy, pork, soybeans, sorghum, sweet cherries and wheat. The final figure may be much smaller because of a smaller payout to producers. Eligibility and payment limits are factors as well as the decision by some producers not to apply, officials have said.
Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Indiana are the leading states for payments at present. The top commodities are soybeans, corn, wheat, cotton and sorghum.