Numerous south-central Indiana crop producers could benefit from a newly announced aid package from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Last week, the USDA announced details regarding a $16 billion relief fund designed to help farmers who have been financially injured by tariffs and extreme flooding.
Various programs within the USDA are designed to help farmers specifically with tariff increases on American agricultural goods in different parts of the world. The Market Facilitation Program, the broadest of the three programs, will help farmers based on a single payment rate set by individual counties, multiplied by total plantings of eligible crops.
Farmers may sign up for the program at their respective county Farm Service Agency offices now through Dec. 6. Producers of alfalfa hay, barley, canola, corn, crambe, dried beans, dry peas, extra-long staple cotton, flax seed, lentils, long grain and medium grain rice, millet, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, rapeseed, rye, safflower, sesame seed, small and large chickpeas, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower seed, temperate japonica rice, triticale, upland cotton and wheat are eligible for MFP assistance.
Payment rates will range from $15 to $150 per acre, according to a news release from the USDA.
Dairy producers who were in business as of June 1 will receive a per hundredweight payment on production history, and hog producers will receive a payment based on the number of live hogs owned on a day selected by the producer between April 1 and May 15.
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