tariff payments
Difficult choices when crop insurance, disaster aid and Trump’s bailout intersect
The farm safety net offers many strands of support to farmers swamped by a historically slow planting season, but the strands pull in different directions, says associate professor Bradley Lubben, of the University of Nebraska. "The complexity for producer decision-making is compounded," he said, when potential Trump tariff payments and disaster aid are woven into traditional crop subsidies and crop insurance.
White House targets ag provisions in veto threat of mammoth funding bill
The U.S. House opened debate on a mammoth federal spending bill, including money for the USDA, on Tuesday under the threat of a presidential veto of the $322 billion bill. The White House said it opposed half a dozen USDA provisions in the bill, including language that would preclude relocating two research agencies to Kansas City and implementing a new inspection system for hog-slaughter plants.
Maybe a ‘minimal’ Trump payment on prevented plantings, Perdue says
The USDA will not make Trump tariff payments on farmland that is not planted this year, because it's not allowed by law to do so, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Monday. But there may be a way to provide some assistance to growers from the $14.5 billion in Market Facilitation Program (MFP) funds allotted for this year's crops, Perdue said, ahead of President Trump's visit to Iowa.
Decision ‘sooner rather than later’ on whether unplanted cropland gets Trump bailout
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said he'll have a decision "sooner rather than later" — maybe by Friday or maybe next week in Iowa with the president — on whether unplanted cropland will be eligible for Trump tariff payments this year. The USDA initially said unplanted land would not be eligible for the up to $14.5 billion in trade-mitigation payments, but the huge amount of flooded land in the Midwest prompted a second look at the question.
Chaotic spring may lead Trump administration to loosen limits on trade aid
USDA lawyers may have an answer this week on whether Trump tariff payments, intended to mitigate the impact of the trade war, can be given to farmers unable to plant a crop this year, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Monday.
JBS, under fire for taking Trump’s tariff bailout, is accused of polluting a Colorado river
In a new lawsuit, environmental advocates say a Colorado beef-packing plant owned by JBS has been dumping polluted wastewater into a river for years. The suit comes as the Brazilian company is under fire for taking millions in President Trump's tariff bailout payments. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Trump tariff payments could triple farm subsidies this year
When Congress passed the 2018 farm policy law, analysts estimated farm subsidies would cost an average $6.1 billion a year. The Trump tariff payments, ordered by the White House to mitigate the impact of trade war, could triple the total for expenditures to farmers this year.
Senate passes long-delayed disaster bill with ag relief money
On Thursday, with President Trump giving his support, the Senate passed a $19.1-billion disaster bill that includes $3 billion for farmers hit by flooding and severe wet weather this spring along with aid to producers pounded last year by hurricanes in the South, wildfires in the West, and volcanoes in Hawaii.
A ‘black swan’ casts shadow on soggy Farm Belt
Mired by a rainy and chilly spring, U.S. farmers may soon give up on planting corn in rain-soaked parts of the Farm Belt because it is getting too late for money-making yields, said economist Scott Irwin of the University of Illinois. "I truly believe we are in 'black swan' territory as far as late corn planting is concerned," he said over the weekend, using a term popularized during the financial crisis a decade ago.
USDA looking at $15-$20 billion for new Trump bailout
As it did with the Trump tariff payments on 2018 crops, the administration is likely to send money directly to producers in the upcoming round of aid, which may total $15-$20 billion, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Wednesday. That total would be a larger package than the president himself has suggested.
As trade war lengthens, Trump orders another bailout for farmers
For the second time in 14 months, President Trump announced a multibillion-dollar government intervention to prop up the farm sector, a prominent casualty of the Sino-U.S. trade war. The first bailout, announced in April 2018, has sent around $8.3 billion in cash to growers so far; the new rescue will buy "agricultural products from our Great Farmers, in larger amounts than China ever did, and ship it to poor & starving countries in the form of humanitarian assistance," the president said on social media.
Farmer confidence surges, is highest since trade war began
With Trump tariff payments boosting Corn Belt farm revenue, farmer confidence shot to its highest level since last June, just before the trade war began against China, said the monthly Ag Economy Barometer published by Purdue University. Producers polled by Purdue said they expect ag exports to increase in the years ahead, an indirect sign they expect a beneficial resolution with China.
Trump tariff payments top $6.4 billion as deadline nears
The USDA has received nearly 805,000 applications and paid out $6.41 billion so far in the Trump tariff payments created to buffer the impact of the Sino-U.S. trade war, said the USDA on Monday. The Trump payments are the largest element of a mitigation package that was announced as a maximum of $12 billion but could turn out smaller in the end.
Trump tariff payment total? ‘Maybe $8 billion.’
U.S. farmers may receive noticeably less in Trump tariff payments than originally expected, a senior USDA official said on Thursday. And with no end in sight for the five-week partial government shutdown, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley told reporters that food stamps could be in jeopardy.
USDA opens local offices for three days to work on existing farm loans
About half of the USDA’s local offices will be open for three days, beginning Thursday, to deal with existing farm loans and provide tax documents to farmers and ranchers. USDA employees will not consider applications for new loans, the new dairy support program, disaster relief, or Trump tariff payments.
Producers are given more time to enroll for Trump tariff payments
Trump tariff payments and E15 take a hit from shutdown
The partial government shutdown is putting a kink in the Trump tariff payments to farmers and it could prevent the EPA from approving the sale of E15 by the summer, as promised by President Trump. But farm groups have made few public complaints about the shutdown, now in its third week.
Trump tariff payments went to big farm operators
When the Trump administration poured billions of dollars into rural America to mitigate the impact of trade war, "most of it bypassed the country's traditional small and medium-sized farms that were battered by the loss of their export market," said the CBS News program 60 Minutes on Sunday. It's just as likely big farmers will benefit in a big way when the USDA disburses $16 billion in coronavirus-relief cash to farmers and ranchers, said the program.