In Wisconsin, Trump announces $13 billion in farm aid
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[September 18, 2020] By
Steve Holland and P.J. Huffstutter
MOSINEE, Wis. (Reuters) - U.S. President
Donald Trump announced a new round of pandemic assistance to farmers of
about $13 billion at a campaign rally in Wisconsin on Thursday night,
delivering aid to an important sector in a crucial battleground state.
"Starting next week my administration is committing an additional ...
$13 billion in relief to help farmers recover from the China virus,
including Wisconsin's incredible dairy, cranberry and ginseng farmers
who got hurt badly," Trump said, referring to the novel coronavirus
virus.
Wisconsin is known for its milk and cheese industries, which have been
hard hit by both the White House's trade policies and the COVID-19
pandemic - but the amount of assistance to farmers weeks before the vote
was unexpected.
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Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin in 2016 by less than 1%
of the vote - and marked the first time the state had voted for a
Republican in a presidential election since 1984.
Trump spoke in Mosinee, a rural town in the central part of Wisconsin,
as state officials reported 2,034 new coronavirus cases, a record
one-day increase.
The new aid program – which the agriculture department is expected to
release details about on Friday – is tapping into the $14 billion in
additional Commodity Credit Corporation funds that Congress agreed to
prepay as part of the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security
(CARES) Act, according to four sources familiar with the matter.
Farmers are expected to be allowed to start applying for the new program
on Monday, the sources said.
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![](../images/091820pics/busine45.jpg)
A farmer's corn
harvesting combine is seen during the corn harvest in Eldon, Iowa
U.S. October 4, 2019. 9. REUTERS/Kia Johnson
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How much certain crops will receive is not known, but the program is set to make
direct payments to producers of meat, dairy, grain, vegetables and other
products, the sources said.
The payments will be designed similarly to an earlier aid package: calculated
based on yields of crops and the impact the coronavirus pandemic had on the
price of the commodities.
Trump in April announced a $19 billion relief program to help U.S. farmers cope
with the impact of the virus, including $16 billion in direct payments to
producers and mass purchases of meat, dairy, vegetables and other products.
That came on the heels of $28 billion in trade aid given to the farm sector over
2018 and 2019. A government watchdog agency said on Monday the 2019 aid favored
farmers from the U.S. Southeast, primarily those growing crops like cotton or
sorghum, over those in other parts of the country.
China's demand for U.S. corn and soybeans has been strong in recent weeks,
boosting prices, and it is also importing more meat amid a potential food supply
gap.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and P.J. Huffstutter; Writing by Andy Sullivan and
Eric Beech; Editing by Tom Brown and Aurora Ellis)
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