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Johnson: unclear how much farmer aid is needed

A U.S. Congressman from South Dakota says it’s too soon to know if Congress needs to step in to provide more assistance on top of USDA’s recently announced farmer aid.

“I’m not assuming it’s not enough yet.”

Dusty Johnson says more details are needed about the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program formulas, expected later this month.

“I think a lot of the commodity groups are trying to figure out, ok, how much will this help compared to how much we think we need? I think it’s gonna take a few more days before we really have a good sense of was $11 billion perfect number or not?”

He says the total number of dollars for the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program is less than the Market Facilitation Program in the first Trump administration and “it’s spread out over more commodities. So really, that first round in Trump one, that was very heavy in soybeans. This is spread out across a lot more commodities. The administration is saying this is not tied directly to trade issues. This is about a broader softening of the farm economy.”

Johnson says he’s looking forward to learning more about the program in the weeks ahead.