President Biden signed a stop-gap government funding bill over the weekend that calls for speedy payment of $10 billion to farmers to buffer lower commodity prices and high production costs. Congress voted to fund the government through March 14 after a fight that showed the limits of President-elect Trump’s control over Republican lawmakers.
Row-crop farmers were eligible for up to $250,000 apiece of the so-called economic assistance payments, with the legislation directing the USDA to make payments within 90 days of enactment of the law, which would be late March. Payments could range from $19 an acre for wheat to $77 an acre for peanuts, according to preliminary estimates. Payments for corn could be $43 an acre and soybeans, $28 an acre.
The stop-gap spending bill included another extension of the 2018 farm law, which expired in fall 2023. Along with the economic assistance payments, the bill had $20.8 billion in disaster assistance for agriculture.
Language authorizing year-round sale of E15, a 15% blend of corn ethanol into gasoline, was part of an initial, bipartisan version of the bill but was dropped after Trump criticized the 1,500-page. Hard-line Republicans joined Democrats to defeat a slimmed-down version of the bill which included Trump’s demand for a waiver of the federal debt limit. The final version dropped the debt ceiling provision and sailed through the House, 366-34, and the Senate, 85-11.
“This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted,” said Biden on Saturday. “But it rejects the accelerated pathway to a tax cut for billionaires that Republicans sought, and it ensures the government can continue to operate at full capacity.”
Farm groups cheered the combined $30.8 billion in federal assistance. For many farmers, disaster relief “will be the difference between planting for another year or going out of business,” said the American Farm Bureau Federation. “However,” said the National Farmers Union, “farmers and ranchers deserve better;” most obviously with enactment of a new farm bill in early 2025.
“Congress sent a clear message to farmers across the country — some of you matter and some of you don’t,” said the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, speaking for small farmers. The $10 billion in economic assistance will go to farmers already eligible for crop subsidies and crop insurance indemnities, it said, while “orphan” programs were left without funding to help small and diversified farmers.
Agriculture.com