Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue has announced USDA will be making a second Market Facilitation Program payment to farmers in December, but will not be looking at additional trade aid in 2019. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig says the impact of the trade war is coming to reality at harvest and so the additional aid is a welcome surprise.
Naig says farmers aren’t the only sector of agriculture hurting from the trade war. He’s touring agribusinesses like Wilson Trailer and GSI Grain in the Sioux City area this week and hearing more about the impact of the steel and aluminum tariffs on their companies.
Naig says farmers will also see the impact of tariffs in the form of higher input costs for fertilizer and herbicides as they prepare for the 2019 growing season.
Perdue also announced there would be no more trade aid in 2019. However, Naig takes that as an indication the administration is planning to get the trade war resolved before it will be needed.
