Ten Market Facilitation Program Details You Should Know
USDA announced details this week on a second round of trade assistance for farmers impacted by ongoing trade disputes through the agency’s Market Facilitation Program (MFP). Program sign-up begins July 29. Click below for Farm Bureau’s guide to 10 program details farmers will want to know.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced a second round of Market Facilitation Payments (MFP) would be made to assist farmers impacted by trade disruptions. President Trump formally authorized the use of $14.5 billion in direct to farmer payments for 2019, and Secretary Perdue announced the full program details July 25.
In order to limit the potential planting impacts of this new round of payments, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicated that payments would be based on their calculation of the impact of the ongoing trade war on each county. That single county rate would then be applied to all of the approved list of eligible commodities (see list below) planted by a farmer in 2019. The 2019 county payment rate formula is based on the mix of eligible commodities grown in each county, the acreage of those commodities that farmers are growing this year, and the impact of trade disruption on those commodities.
Ten 2019 Program Details You Should Know
- Sign-up for the program begins Monday, July 29 and ends December 6, 2019.
- Eligible producers must have an average adjusted gross income (AGI) for tax years 2014, 2015, and 2016 of less than $900,000 or derive at least 75 percent of their AGI from farming/ranching.
- A farm’s total payment-eligible plantings cannot exceed total 2018 plantings.
- County payment rates range from $15 to $150 per acre, depending on the impact of trade retaliation in that county.
- Farmers affected by natural disasters who filed prevented planting claims are eligible to receive an MFP of $15 per acre if they plant(ed) an MFP-eligible cover crop by August 1.
- Acreage of non-specialty crops as well eligible prevented planting claims with cover crops, must be planted by August 1, 2019 to be considered eligible for MFP payments.
- MFP payments will be made in up to three portions with the first payment consisting of the higher of either 50 percent of a producer’s calculated payment or $15 per acre. The first payment will be made in mid-to-late August (2019).
- The second and third payments will be evaluated as market conditions and trade opportunities dictate. If conditions warrant, the second tranche will be made in November (2019) and the third in early January (2020).
- Payments for dairy producers who were in business as of June 1, 2019, will be at $0.20 per hundredweight
- Hog producers will receive a payment of $11 per head based on the number of hogs owned on a day selected by the producer between April 1, 2019 and May 15, 2019.
2019 Market Facilitation Program Payment Rates
Eligible Commodities
*This list only includes commodities of note for Nebraska. To see the full list, including specialty crops,please visit the USDA program website at: https://www.farmers.gov/manage/mfp
Non-specialty crops: alfalfa hay, corn, dried beans, dry peas, lentils, oats, rye, small and large chickpeas,sorghum, soybeans, sunflower seed, and wheat.
Livestock: dairy and hogs.
