The ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro could lead to export opportunities for U.S. ag products, although much depends on the U.S.’ next move and how consumers respond, analysts say.
$12 Billion Farm Aid Package Not Enough, Farm Leaders Say
Reuters’ Leah Douglas and P.J. Huffstutter reported that “U.S. farmers facing steep losses this year welcomed President Donald Trump’s $12 billion aid package announced on Monday, but said they would need more than that to fully offset low crop prices and lost export opportunities from his trade war.”
“The aid will help farmers prepare for the next planting season, said five farmers and agricultural groups, four agricultural economists and three bankers. Yet they added that it is a fraction of farm losses and will not rescue the sagging farm economy,” Douglas and Huffstutter reported. “‘This support will serve as a lifeline for those simply trying to make it to next year. But it is just a lifeline, not a long-term solution,’ said Mike Stranz, vice president of advocacy at the National Farmers Union.”
“Farmers have been saddled with low crop prices, higher costs for labor and inputs like fertilizer and seeds. Meanwhile, exports of crops like soybeans have declined due to Trump’s trade disputes,” Douglas and Huffstutter reported. “Farm losses this year range from $35 billion to $44 billion for the nine major commodity crops, including corn, soybeans, wheat and peanuts, said Shawn Arita, associate director of the Agricultural Risk Policy Center at North Dakota State University.”
“Soybean farmers were particularly hard hit when China halted all U.S. soybean imports between May and November. Farmers lost billions of dollars in soybean sales at the start of their peak export season and will likely not recover that lost demand, according to traders and analysts,” Douglas and Huffstutter reported. “The federal aid will only address about one-quarter of soybean losses, said Caleb Ragland, a Kentucky farmer and president of the American Soybean Association.”
“‘We’re appreciative of an economic bridge,’ Ragland said,” according to Douglas and Huffstutter’s reporting. “But the money is just ‘plugging holes and slowing the bleeding.’”
Some Lawmakers Already Calling for More Aid
Agri-Pulse’s Oliver Ward and Lydia Johnson reported that “Republican farm-state senators say row crop growers are likely to need additional aid beyond the Trump administration’s newly announced $12 billion ‘bridge’ payment program, and specialty crop producers say the package shortchanges them.”
“While ‘$12 billion is a lot of money for anybody,’ Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., told Agri-Pulse that ‘in the absence of the ability to export what we produce, particularly when we, in many instances, have bumper crops,’ Congress ‘very well may need to’ issue more. ‘The need is evident,’ Moran said,” according to Ward and Johnson’s reporting.
“Other GOP senators indicated that they would be in favor of Congress taking steps to augment the administration’s Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) program,” Ward and Johnson reported. “Growers of U.S. row crops, which stand to receive some $11 billion of the $12 billion in assistance unveiled Monday, are facing ‘serious’ economic hardship, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., said. ‘We’re hoping that we can come up with something. Not sure what it will be yet, but I will certainly support it,’ she told Agri-Pulse.”
“Montana Sen. Steve Daines said the $12 billion assistance package is ‘a good start,'” Ward and Johnson reported.
What’s in the $12 Billion Farm Aid Package?
Progressive Farmer’s Chris Clayton reported earlier this week that “commodity farmers should know by the end of December exactly how much they will receive in economic aid from the Trump administration from the $12 billion package that should be distributed by the end of February, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Monday.”
“The Trump administration dubbed the new aid the ‘Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) Program,'” Clayton reported. “…Rollins said that $11 billion will be provided to commodity producers, while USDA will hold back $1 billion for specialty crop producers.”
“FBA payments will provide aid to the primary commodity crops: barley, chickpeas, corn, cotton, lentils, oats, peanuts, peas, rice, sorghum, soybeans, wheat, canola, crambe, flax, mustard, rapeseed, safflower, sesame and sunflower,” Clayton reported. “USDA will use a ‘uniform formula to cover a portion of modeled losses during the crop year.’ USDA will use Farm Service Agency-reported planted acres for crops. Because of that, USDA stated that farmers need to ensure their 2025 acreage reporting is correct by 5 p.m. ET on Dec. 19. USDA also will develop its payment formula using Economic Research Service cost of production estimates along with World Agricultural Supply & Demand Estimate yields and prices.”
