MFP 2.0 Makes Prevent Plant Decisions Even More Difficult

On Thursday USDA announced a few details of the 2019 Market Facilitation Program (MFP). While the program has been expanded to include several crops not included in the 2018 aid, farmers will only be paid on crops planted, which makes already fraught prevent plant crop insurance decisions all that more difficult.

The MFP plan for non-specialty crops includes one single payment rate per county. According to Undersecretary Bill Northey, USDA Chief Economist Rob Johansson and his team will assess trade damage to each county as well as historical production data and will use that information to calculate a single payment rate for all crops covered.

Farmers will only be paid for crops planted, Johansson confirmed on a Thursday morning call with reporters. Which economists say makes prevent plant insurance decisions extra tricky.

“If I am reading it right, prevent plant (PP) acres will not be eligible for any MFP payments.  So, what if Mother Nature pushes planting past crop insurance prevent date?  I wanted to plant corn but I literally could not and so cannot get the payment on my PP corn acres,” University of Illinois ag economist Scott Irwin tweeted adding it seems really unfair when prevented planting is not the farmer’s fault.

Farmers expressed their prevent plant concerns on Twitter too:

“For more than a year now, producers of every commodity have said the same thing: they want long-term access to export markets, not hasty attempts by the federal government to clean up its own mess,” he said in a statement. “Rather than waste more time and resources on temporary band-aids, USDA should focus on implementing the safety net Congress established in the farm bill. I urge the White House to rescind the tariffs and sit down in a constructive manner with the Chinese to address issues that will actually improve the market for our farmers. This just shows, as I’ve long said, nobody wins a trade war—everyone has leverage.”

While many voiced frustrations about payment rate announcements being delayed, the Illinois Corn Growers Association applauded that move.

“We feel that the Trump Administration took prudent action today in holding off on announcing specific payment amounts to farmers in the planned second round of trade aid payments. Illinois corn farmers are significantly behind in planting their crop this year.” llinois Corn Growers Association President Ted Mottaz said in a statement. “As we move toward turning the calendar from May to June, the decisions about what to plant and when are complicated enough. Adding a specific monetary figure in a trade-aid payment to the mix is a variable that likely would cause significant market implications.”

USDA’s intent was to ensure acreage mixes aren’t altered by MFP payments and the details are so murky, most farmers have no idea what to do.