Statewide Iowa — President Trump has announced another round of federal assistance to farmers who continue to see prices for commodities dip due to the pandemic.
Iowa State University ag economist Chad Hart says the spending was authoritized by the so-called CARES Act that passed congress this spring.
(As above) “This has been telegraphed for some time,” Hart says. “It’s about $13-14 billion dollars of support here…to help producers that are still suffering from price losses from earlier.”
Producers of livestock, dairy and eggs as well as so-called fish farms are eligible to apply for these new payments. Farmers who raise corn, cotton, beans, wheat and specialty crops like fruits and nuts are eligible, too. In August, the U-S-D-A estimated federal payments would account for 36 percent of farm income this year and these payments will push that share even higher. A recent report shows that in general, southern farmers are getting bigger checks from the U-S-D-A than Midwestern farmers. Hart says that’s because the payments are based on the Farm Bill.
(As above) “When you look back at previous Farm Bill packages, they tended to be more tilted to southern crops as well,” Hart says, “and so when we piggyback on previous programs, they tend to line up the same way.”
Hart made his comments Friday morning.
