The second round of Market Facilitation Program (MFP) payments, just like the first round, were aimed at helping farmers who were experiencing losses due to the trade war with China. Farmers across the United States have felt the pinch in one commodity or another. However, when one looks at the average payment levels, you can see the southern states are getting more than the northern states, and somebody on the Senate Ag Committee wanted to know why.
Photo courtesy of American Farm Bureau
Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) was curious why there was so much disparity between the payments received in the northern and Midwestern states, compared to the southern states.
United States Deputy Agriculture Secretary Steve Censky says it comes down to county production averages and value of commodities grown. The southern states deal with more specialty crops, nuts, and produce.
Deputy Secretary Censky has offered to work with Senator Stabenow to show her the methodology used and how they arrived at the numbers they did.
