Trade Aid Payments near $840 Million

Nearly $840 million in trade aid has been handed out to farmers from the Department of Agriculture so far this year. The payments stem from the trade mitigation package announced by USDA to help offset trade war loses for farmers.

The package, worth $12 billion, has paid out $837.8 million to farmers. Top aid recipients are soybean, wheat, corn dairy and hog producers, according to Reuters. The five states that received the highest amount of aid were Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Indiana and Minnesota.

The second set of payments is expected in December, and USDA says producers who signed up for the first round will be automatically included in the second round of payments. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has said that there are no plans to extend the aid into 2019, for now.

Source;  NAFB News