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USDA’s specialty crop assistance helps some, not all

An economist says USDA’s recently announced assistance program for specialty crop producers helps some producers but fails to help others.

Economist Danny Munch with the American Farm Bureau Federation says USDA’s 1.625 billion dollars for specialty crop assistance is higher than the expected one billion, but he says the one payment per acre model might not reflect some of the production differences.  Munch uses apples as an example. “You have vertical spindle operations that are spending 45-55 thousand dollars per acre on those high-yield systems. They’re getting the same payment as a traditional older orchard that is set up in trees that might not have the same yield.”

Munch says several specialty crops were also left out of USDA’s assistance program. “Floriculture, nursery crops, herbs, Christmas trees, maple syrup, they don’t qualify for the program as well as acreage grown in controlled environments, so many greenhouses. If you were growing those crops inside a greenhouse, apart from mushrooms, they’re left out of the program as well.”

The Farmer Bridge Assistance Program was a 12 billion dollar ad hoc economic assistance program for row crops, specialty crops, and sugar.  Munch says as of the end of May, 9.7 billion dollars have been sent to farmers.

AUDIO: Danny Munch with the American Farm Bureau Federation discusses the specialty crop assistance details within the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program with Brownfield’s Larry Lee.