News Corona crisis
Trump's aid package rises to $250.000 per farmer
US President Donald Trump announced yesterday (Tuesday, May 19) the rules of the game that apply to his support package for American farmers. During the press conference at the White House, the president also let slip that he plans to restrict the import of live cattle.
The $19 billion bailout package, such as mid April already announced, will be cut into $16 billion in direct payments to farmers and $3 billion to buy agricultural products, such as meat and dairy, for the food bank. “Going back to Abraham Lincoln, no US president has been as good to the farmers as I have been,” Trump said at a White House press conference.
Different per farmer
The support package can turn out differently for farmers. The sales strategy is leading for growers of cereals. The agricultural grower, for example, has not suffered from loss of income as a result of the corona crisis and is therefore fishing behind the net. The compensation for the long-term keeper is based on the stocks on January 15, or half of the 2019 harvest, depending on which volume is smaller.
Dairy farmers are compensated for the milk money that they lost in the first quarter, both for the milk produced and not produced. The American milk price dropped by $2,70 per CWT (=50,8 kilos) in those months. Livestock farmers also receive compensation, as do fruit growers. An individual farm can claim a maximum of $250.000 in aid. It should be noted that many American farms are disproportionate in size to a Dutch family farm.
Ban on livestock imports?
Trump also said during the press conference that he is considering suspending live imports because the US is struggling with a surplus. Although he did not name specific countries, the president is referring to livestock from neighboring Mexico and Canada. These are the only supply countries. Last year, the US imported over a million cows from Mexico.
According to some American media, an import ban is sensitive. This is because agreements have been made about this in the USMCA, the new trade agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada, which is also popularly referred to as Nafta 2.0.
Wouter Job
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