USDA’s Market Facilitation Program

Has your farm been directly impacted by the unjustified foreign retaliatory tariffs? The Market Facilitation Program has been created to help American farmers like yourself.

Back in late September, the Secretary of Agriculture announced the addition of commodities to the trade mitigation package. This announcement came after the response to trade damage from unjustified retaliation, to assist agriculture producers to meet some of the costs of disrupted markets.

Producers may apply for the Market Facilitation Program (MFP) at their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) office. The MFP will provide direct payments to eligible producers of soybeans, sorghum, corn, wheat, cotton, dairy and hogs – to name a few.

The period to apply for MFP, for other eligible commodities is now open and runs through January 15, 2019. Information and instructions to apply are provided at www.farmers.gov/mfp.

According to the USDA, the MFP is established under the statutory authority of the Commodity Credit Corporation CCC CharterAct and is under the administration of the USDA’s FSA. It is stated that eligible producers should apply after the completion of harvest, as payments will only be issued once production is reported. A payment will be issued on 50% of the producer’s total production, multiplied by the MFP rate for a specific commodity. MFP rate on soybeans is $1.65/bu on the first 50%. This equates to over 82c/bu on every bushel harvested this fall.

According to the USDA, eligible producers must meet the following criteria:

• Have an ownership interest in the commodity and be actively engaged in farming
• Have an average adjusted gross income or AGI for tax years 2014, 2015, and 2016 of less than $900,000 per year
• Comply with the provisions of the “Highly Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation” regulations, often called the conservation compliance provisions
• Provide verifiable and reliable production records by crop, type, practice, intended use, and acres if requested by the Farm Service Agency

For additional assistance or questions, visit your local USDA service center. The USDA website includes a statement, “Stop by and see us. We can complete the Market Facilitation Program application form together.” If you’re uncertain where your USDA service center is located, the USDA has a helpful service locator resource on their website https://www.farmers.gov/service-locator.