It’s not surprising Market Facilitation Program Payments have been designated to go to the largest producers. Iowa State University Extension Ag Economist Chad Hart says the way the USDA figured those payments are based on the amount of acres that have been planted.
He says when it comes to the negative impacts from the Trade War, those who’ve planted more acres have suffered the most from the retaliatory damage.
Hart says it doesn’t make sense to base the MFP payments intended to compensate for the loss from the trade war on the size of the farming operation.
Hart says the government wanted to respond to farmers earlier this year with MFP payments so that’s why it was based mostly on acreage. He says going forward, hopefully the MFP payments will disappear in tandem with improvement on the trade front.
