Neighboring counties will differ in payment rates under the new Market Facilitation Program. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue says the different payment rate variations are an attempt to equitably distribute the funds. “Disparities were impossible to overcome aside from doing an individual program for each producer,” says Perdue. “If we had the administrative time and staff to do that, that’s what we probably would have done.” USDA Chief Economist Rob Johansson says payments are based on USDA’s estimates of trade damage due to the ongoing trade wars. “Trade damage was calculated based on the difference between the tariff estimated level of trade and the baseline without the tariffs,” says Johansson. “The 2019 program is different from last year’s trade mitigation payments, because we used a different year of export numbers.” The highest county rates for non-specialty crops in Minnesota is Hubbard County at $79 an acre. In North Dakota, the highest rates are in Cass and Sargent counties at $57 an acre. In South Dakota, the highest payments are in Clay, Union and Moody counties at $69 an acre. Take a closer look at county payment rates.
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