Details on farm assistance package on the way

Aug 24, 2018

USDA hopes to have the program running after Labor Day

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Details on a federal assistance package to help farmers through difficult economic times could be released next week.

Yesterday, USDA secretary Sonny Perdue told farmers the Office of Management and Budget is reviewing the specifics of the US$12 billion package. The information could be made public on Monday.

The package, which could include between US$7 and US$8 billion of direct cash relief, won’t please all farmers, Perdue said.

“It’s not going to make everybody whole. It’s not going to make everybody happy,” he said during a visit to a dairy farm in Schodack Landing, N.Y., Reuters reported.

Soybean producers could stand to benefit the most from the assistance programs.

A preliminary report suggested the USDA would pay US$1.65 per bushel of soybeans and one cent per bushel of corn.

Based on the USDA’s forecast of a 4.586-billion-bushel soybean crop, that would equal about US$7.6 billion in federal aid for the soybean industry.

“We will acknowledge that dairy and pork and soybeans will be the commodities that are most dramatically affected by the tariffs,” Perdue said, DTN reported.

Dairy producers are worried the government’s help isn’t enough as they face an oversupply of milk nationwide.

And in New York, dairy farmers aren’t exempt from the state’s increasing minimum wage, which sits at US$10.40 per hour.

“We go to work every day losing money,” Stephen Winsor, a fourth-generation dairy farmer from Harpursville, N.Y., said yesterday, WRVO reported. “By the time we provide for our family, make sure our employees are paid and pay the bills, at the end of the day, there’s nothing left.”

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