U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has launched the trade mitigation package to assist farmers suffering from damage due to unjustified trade retaliation by foreign nations. The package offers three means of assistance to specialty crop commodities: Food Purchase and Distribution Program, Agricultural Trade Promotion Program, and a program that has yet to be determined for almonds and cherries.
Food Purchase and Distribution Program
The Food Purchase and Distribution Program is similar to that of the Section 32 program, following many of the existing guidelines, which enables the Secretary of Agriculture to purchase surplus food to be delivered to schools, food banks and households in communities across the country through its USDA foods nutrition programs.
Beginning this week, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will issue pre-solicitation notices through GovDelivery. These notices will outline products USDA intends to purchase from now through the next several weeks. AMS will purchase products (see chart below) over four quarters in the new federal fiscal year, which starts on October 1, 2018. In order to be considered you have to be an approved USDA vendor. To learn more about the requirement on becoming an approved USDA vendor, click here.
Food Purchases
|
Commodity |
Target Amount (in $1,000s) |
|
Apples |
$93,400 |
|
Apricots |
$200 |
|
Beef |
$14,800 |
|
Blueberries |
$1,700 |
|
Cranberries |
$32,800 |
|
Dairy |
$84,900 |
|
Figs |
$15 |
|
Grapefruit |
$700 |
|
Grapes |
$48,200 |
|
Hazelnuts |
$2,100 |
|
Kidney Beans |
$14,200 |
|
Lemons/Limes |
$3,400 |
|
Lentils |
$1,800 |
|
Macadamia |
$7,700 |
|
Navy Beans |
$18,000 |
|
Oranges (Fresh) |
$55,600 |
|
Orange Juice |
$24,000 |
|
Peanut Butter |
$12,300 |
|
Pears |
$1,400 |
|
Peas |
$11,800 |
|
Pecans |
$16,000 |
|
Pistachios |
$85,200 |
|
Plums/Prunes |
$18,700 |
|
Pork |
$558,800 |
|
Potatoes |
$44,500 |
|
Rice |
$48,100 |
|
Strawberries |
$1,500 |
|
Sweet Corn |
$2,400 |
|
Walnuts |
$34,600 |
|
Total |
$1,238,800 |
Agricultural Trade Promotion Program (ATP)
The Agricultural Trade Promotion Program (ATP), with some slight variations follows most of the same procedures of the Market Access Program, providing cost-share assistance to eligible U.S. organizations for activities such as consumer advertising, public relations, point-of-sale demonstrations, participation in trade fairs and exhibits, market research and technical assistance.
The goal of the program is to assist American agricultural exporters in identifying and accessing new markets and to help mitigate the adverse effects of other countries’ restrictions. Under the ATP, applicants may now submit proposals for the Foreign Agricultural Service’s (FAS) $200 million ATP Program. FAS will accept applications on a rolling basis until November 2, 2018. For more details regarding ATP and how to apply click here.
Almond and Sweet Cherries Program
Almonds and cherries are currently working with USDA on an alternative approach, which will be coordinated through the USDA for payment mitigation.
Program details yet to be determined
|
Commodity |
Target Amount (in $1,000s) |
|
Almonds |
$63,300 |
|
Sweet Cherries |
$111,500 |
|
Total |
$174,800 |
For more information, check out USDA’s press release of the trade mitigation program.
For Western Growers’ thoughts on the recently released trade mitigation plan, check out our statement and video.
