Direct farm aid has climbed each year of Trump’s presidency, from $11.5 billion in 2017 to more than $32 billion this year — an all-time high, with potentially far more funding still to come in 2020, amounting to about two-thirds of the cost of the entire Department of Housing and Urban Development and more than the Agriculture Department’s $24 billion discretionary budget, according to a POLITICO analysis. But lawmakers have taken a largely hands-off approach, letting the department decide who gets the money and how much.
The massive payments have been a political boon to Trump in farm country — he tweeted in January that he hoped the money would be “the thing they will most remember” — but risk creating a culture of dependency, as farmers and ranchers work the bonus subsidies into their financial plans when making large, up-front investments in seed, feed and farm machinery.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/0...ailouts-359932
With the latest $14 billion farm aid package announced in Wisconsin on Sept. 17, federal payments to farmers are expected to reach a record $51.2 billion this year. The government’s share of farmers’ net cash income will also rise to 39.7%, the biggest in 20 years.
Net cash income is a closely watched indicator of farm health that calculates the amount of money a farmer gets to keep after expenses. The Agriculture Department forecast net farm income would rise 4% in 2020 from last year even before the most recent aid announcement.
‘VOTE BUYING’?
The latest COVID-19 aid package came at a time the farm economy was improving.
The Environmental Working Group, a health and environmental advocacy group, called the program “old-fashioned vote buying,” saying it did not send money to groups truly at risk. But USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue said the government talked to farmers and ranchers to design a plan that met the needs of those impacted by the pandemic.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKBN2741D4