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NCGA tells White House “A penny won’t cut it this time”

The National Corn Growers Association is telling the White House a penny won’t cut it if more trade aid is provided to corn farmers.

NCGA and member states have issued a call to action in response to President Trump tweeting that his administration is pursuing a second round of trade assistance after negotiations with China suffered a setback.

Minnesota Corn Growers director Adam Birr says the one cent-per bushel payment for corn provided through the Market Facilitation Program wasn’t adequate then and wouldn’t be now.

“It’s never going to make us whole, the payments. But at least something that’s more commensurate with what the tariffs have done to the market. And we also really want to direct at the Administration recognizing it’s not just trade and aid package and so forth, but we need a break on some front.”

He tells Brownfield that could include an RVP waiver allowing for E15 this summer or the ratification of USMCA.

Birr says while some estimates show the trade war costing corn farmers about 44 cents per-bushel in 2018, members aren’t asking for specific compensation if Trump follows through with more trade assistance.

“We didn’t want to be prescriptive on that in terms of the Call to Action because we don’t know all the factors that will go into the calculation.”

He says another consideration is that when the first round of trade aid was announced all the crops were planted, but this year much of the U.S. corn crop has yet to be planted because of wet weather.

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