Just in time for the season of giving and hope, President Donald Trump approves another round of mitigation payments this week to assist farmers feeling the impacts of foreign trade retaliations, according to a release this week from the USDA.

The release confirms this is the second and final round of mitigation payments. Moving forward, certain producers that fall within the required categories will have the opportunity to leverage the Market Facilitation Program for the second half of 2018 production.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue commented:

“The President reaffirmed his support for American farmers and ranchers and made good on his promise, authorizing the second round of payments to be made in short order. While there have been positive movements on the trade front, American farmers are continuing to experience losses due to unjustified trade retaliation by foreign nations. This assistance will help with short-term cash flow issues as we move into the new year.”

Producers interested in the MFP opportunity will have until January 15, 2019 to sign up for the program. The release specifically outlines the program was designed to help, “almond, cotton, corn, dairy, hog, sorghum, soybean, fresh sweet cherry, and wheat producers who have been significantly impacted by actions of foreign governments resulting in the loss of traditional exports,” (USDA).

Beyond the mitigation payments, Secretary Perdue followed through on Trump’s command to create other solutions for short-term relief, including:

-USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) which offers a food purchase and distribution program to purchase up to $1.2 billion in commodities unfairly targeted by unjustified retaliation.

-USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) has been administering MFP to provide the first payments to applicable producers.

– Agricultural Trade Promotion (ATP) program provides $200 million to be made available to develop foreign markets for U.S. agricultural products.

Producers interested in reading more about these solutions can visit: www.farmers.gov/mfp

Source: USDA