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Farmers are now learning how much aid they can get from President Donald’s $12 billion package trump card announced earlier this month.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday released data on how much aid farmers can receive per acre for each row crop program. The details came after most farmers had already met with bankers to arrange financing for next year’s crops and ordered the seeds and fertilizer they needed. But officials promised payments should arrive by the end of February.
Trump’s trade war with U.S. hits soybean farmers especially hard Chinastop buying any American crops after Trump announced tariffs this spring. China is the world’s largest buyer of soybeans. The aid package is expected to help farmers cope with trade disruptions until China buys more soybeans under a deal announced in October and provisions of Trump’s massive budget bill take effect later this year.
Soybean growers will receive $30.88 per acre and corn growers will receive $44.36. Another crop that was hit hard when China stopped buying was sorghum, these farmers would receive $48.11 per acre. These amounts are based on the USDA’s cost of production formula.
But farmers say the aid won’t solve all their problems as they also contend with soaring costs for fertilizers, seeds and labor, making it currently difficult for them to turn a profit. Some agricultural trade groups say they fear thousands of farmers could go bankrupt, but others say they believe most farmers have the financial resources and equity needed to survive.
kentucky Soybean grower Caleb Ragland, who until recently was president of the American Soybean Association, said the aid is a “Band-Aid on the wound. We need market competition and opportunity to make our future brighter.”
Even after the devastation caused by the trade war, most farmers remain staunch supporters of Trump. They generally support many of his other policies and believe they will ultimately lead to better trade deals.
The aid payments will provide a total of $11 billion in aid to row crop farmers who grow corn, soybeans, wheat, sorghum and other crops. Another $1 billion will be set aside for specialty crops as the government works to better understand the situation of these farmers.
After Trump met with Chinese leaders Xi Jinping In South Korea in October, the White House said Beijing had committed to buying at least 12 million tons of U.S. soybeans by the end of the year and 25 million tons in each of the next three years. Officials say China is on track to reach its 12 million tons target by the end of February, but so far it has purchased only about 4.3 million tons of soybeans, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Beijing has not confirmed any commitment to buy 12 million tons of soybeans this season, but the Chinese Embassy in Washington said earlier this month that “agricultural trade cooperation between China and the United States is proceeding in an orderly manner.”
The amount of assistance is capped at $155,000 per farmer or entity, and only farms with adjusted gross income below $900,000 are eligible. During the first Trump administration, many large farms found ways to get around payment limits and raised millions of dollars.
The USDA said it will use a formula that estimates production costs to calculate the cost per acre for each crop. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the average size of the nation’s 1.88 million farms last year was 466 acres, but many farmers have far more than that as large farms acquire neighboring farms over time.