Agriculture Policy

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media After a controversial decision issued in August to exempt some small petroleum refineries from the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the Trump administration announced Oct. 4 that it will propose expansions to biofuel blending requirements beginning in 2020. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it will propose actions that would ensure that more than 15 billion gallons of conventional ethanol are blended into the nation’s fuel supply beginning in 2020, and that the volume obligation for biomass-based diesel is met. ... Read More

By Max Fisher, Director of Economics and Government Relations Earlier this week, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that agricultural producers affected by natural disasters in 2018 and 2019 can apply for assistance through the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+), which contains provisions to address losses from hurricanes hitting the southeast, wildfires in the west, and flooding in the Midwest. Sign-up began on Sept. 11 at Farm Service Agency (FSA) county offices. More than $3 billion is available through the disaster relief package enacted by Congress ... Read More

By Max Fisher, Director of Economics and Government Relations Sign-up is underway for producers to apply to receive 2019 Market Facilitation Program (MFP) payments. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released the methodology used to determine the MFP county payment rates. NGFA has summarized the payment rates below. (All producers in a county will receive the same MFP rate for planted acres, regardless of their productivity.) USDA’s MFP methodology shows that it determined the MFP county-level payment rates by adding within each county each crop’s 2015-2018 average ... Read More

By Randy Gordon, President and CEO The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced that effective Oct. 1, it will impose an approximately 10 percent increase in fees charged to grain, cotton, rice, peanut and other warehouses operating under the U.S. Warehouse Act (USWA). AMS maintains that the fee increase is needed to cover expenses associated with the voluntary federal warehouse program, “including the maintenance of a sufficient operating reserve,” and called the increase a “remedial action to correct the budgetary shortfall for administration of ... Read More

By Max Fisher, Director of Economics and Government Relations The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Market Facilitation Program (MFP) payment rates will range between $15 and $150 per acre and will be made in three parts, with the first payments expected in mid-August, the agency announced July 25. The 2019 MFP package is intended partially to compensate U.S. producers with commodities affected by retaliatory tariffs imposed by foreign countries, with total payments reaching up to $14.5 billion. (The agency also authorized up to $1.4 billion for the Food Purchase and Distribution ... Read More

By Max Fisher, Director of Economics and Government Relations For producers in 12 states, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is extending the deadline to July 22 to set up an appointment to report spring-seeded crop acreage to Farm Service Agency (FSA) county offices and crop insurance agents. The reporting extension applies to producers in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin. “This deadline extension is part of our broader effort to increase program flexibility and reduce overall ... Read More

The House on June 5 passed a package of appropriations bills that fund several federal departments, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, for the 2020 fiscal year, which spans Oct. 1, 2019 to Sept. 30, 2020. The package, passed by a 227-194 vote, exceeded the president’s budget request by more than $5 billion, allocating a total of $24.31 billion. The legislation provides $1.802 billion for farm programs, $32.1 million greater than fiscal 2019, and includes an increase of $30 million for 2018 farm law implementation. Democrats also included language blocking USDA’s proposal to ... Read More