Early Aid to Farmers Tops $130 Million

As of last week, the federal government had distributed $53 million in direct payments to farmers of tariff-hit products, with an estimated $78 million on the way. That’s out of an initial $4.7 billion batch of direct aid that USDA is offering corn, soybean, wheat, sorghum, cotton, pork and dairy farmers—plus growers of sweet cherries and almonds, who were added to the list last month.

The bulk of the initial aid has so far gone to farmers in Iowa, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Nearly 60,000 producers have applied for payments since the program opened on Sept. 4. Corn and soybean applications are rolling in rapidly as the harvest ramps up. For now, wheat, dairy and hog farmers are the top recipients of direct aid.

USDA is also taking bids for its commodity purchase program, but the buy-ups haven’t started yet. The department plans to spend $1.2 billion buying certain commodities and giving them to school cafeterias, food banks and other programs.

Source: Politico