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Purdue Ag Economists say aid likely isn’t enough to offset crop producer losses
The administration’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program includes nearly $4 billion for row crop producers, but Purdue Ag Economist Michael Langemeier says it might not be enough to offset losses.
“The $16 billion of direct payments to farmers sounds really large, but the $4 billion going to crops is not that large compared to the MFP payments in 2018 and 2019,” he says. “That’s why I’m worried that’s it’s not going to help as much as those MFP payments did.”
Purdue Ag Economist Jim Mintert says it shows how dependent the crop sector has become on government payments.
“Starting in 2018 especially, 2019, and now in 2020, that’s become a huge component of farm income on the crop side and without that we would probably see a really negative impact on cash rents and land value,” he says.
Langemeier and Mintert made the comments during a webinar by the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture on Monday.
Ag input companies are going to have to give a little, especially seed companies.