It’s been a topic of discussion for months and now the final rates have been released: the UDSA’s Market Facilitation Program (MFP) has been announced. The information below is from a media release that was published by the USDA on July 25th, 2019. You can read the full article here.
What is the Market Facilitation Program (MFP)?
The Market Facilitation Program (MFP), Food Purchase and Distribution Program (FPDP), and Agricultural Trade Promotion Program (ATP) will assist agricultural producers while President Trump works to address long-standing market access barriers.
American farmers have dealt with unjustified retaliatory tariffs and decades of non-tariff trade disruptions, which have curtailed U.S. exports to China and other nations. Trade damages from such retaliation and market distortions have impacted a host of U.S. commodities. High tariffs disrupt normal marketing patterns, raising costs by forcing commodities to find new markets. Additionally, American goods shipped to China have been slowed from reaching market by unusually strict or cumbersome entry procedures, which affect the quality and marketability of perishable crops. These boost marketing costs and unfairly affect our producers. USDA is using a variety of programs to support American farmers, ranchers, and producers.
MFP Sign-up
Sign-up for the MFP program begins on Monday, July 29, and ends on Dec. 6. During a press call, the USDA Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation (Bill Northey) said “This should be a fairly simple process,” he said. “We want signup to be easy for producers, straightforward and want it to be such that it doesn’t take a lot of time for them, and we can get these payments to them so they can address the challenges they have due to these tariffs that have been placed on our agricultural products.” To sign up, check with your local FSA office. Find your local office at: https://www.farmers.gov/manage/mfp
MFP Rates
Payments will be made by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) under the authority of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Charter Act to producers of alfalfa hay, barley, canola, corn, crambe, dried beans, dry peas, extra-long staple cotton, flaxseed, lentils, long grain and medium grain rice, millet, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, rapeseed, rye, safflower, sesame seed, small and large chickpeas, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower seed, temperate japonica rice, triticale, upland cotton, and wheat. MFP assistance for those non-specialty crops is based on a single county payment rate multiplied by a farm’s total plantings of MFP-eligible crops in aggregate in 2019. Those per-acre payments are not dependent on which of those crops are planted in 2019. A producer’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 unjustified trade retaliation in that county.
Hog and dairy producers are also eligible for payments. Hog producers will receive $11 per head, based on inventory between April 1 and May 15, 2019. Payments to dairy producers will be based on historical production with a rate of 20 cents per hundredweight.
Acres that were never planted in 2019 are not eligible for an MFP payment.
County rates are available by contacting your local FSA office. Find your local office at: https://www.farmers.gov/manage/mfp
You can read more about this press release on the USDA website.
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