Friday is Market Facilitation Program signup deadline

From USDA Farm Service Agency Montana

The end of this week is the deadline for signup for the 2019 Market Facilitation Program.

Signup runs through Friday.

USDA recently announced the second tranche of MFP payments. Producers of MFP-eligible commodities will now be eligible to receive 25 percent of the total payment expected, in addition to the 50 percent they have already received.

Most Montana counties have an MFP non-specialty payment rate of $15 per acre, and participants in counties with a $15 rate received their full payment in the first tranche. Montana counties with rates over $15 will not issue an additional non-specialty payment in the second tranche since they have already received more than 75 percent of the total payment. The balance will be issued in the third tranche, if authorized. The third payment will be evaluated as market conditions and trade opportunities dictate. If conditions warrant, the third payment will be made in January, 2020.

The only Montana counties with a non-specialty rate over $15 are Chouteau, Daniels, Flathead, Gallatin and Sheridan. The only payments Montana will issue during this second tranche are for specialty crops, hogs and dairy.

MFP payments will be made to producers of certain non-specialty and specialty crops as well as dairy and hog producers.

MFP payments will be made to producers of alfalfa hay, barley, canola, corn, crambe, dried beans, dry peas, flaxseed, lentils, millet, mustard seed, oats, rapeseed, rye, safflower, sesame seed, small and large chickpeas, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower seed, triticale and wheat.

MFP assistance for 2019 crops is based on a single county payment rate multiplied by a farm’s total plantings to the MFP-eligible crops in aggregate in 2019. Those per acre payments are not dependent on which of those crops are planted in 2019. A producer’s total payment-eligible plantings cannot exceed total 2018 plantings.

Dairy producers who were in business as of June 1, will receive a per hundredweight payment on production history, and hog producers will receive a payment based on the number of live hogs owned on a day selected by the producer between April 1 and May 15, 2019.

MFP payments are limited to a combined $250,000 for non-specialty crops per person or legal entity. MFP payments are also limited to a combined $250,000 for dairy and hog producers and a combined $250,000 for specialty crop producers. However, no applicant can receive more than $500,000. Eligible applicants must also have an average adjusted gross income for tax years 2015, 2016, and 2017 of less than $900,000, or 75 percent of the person’s or legal entity’s average AGI for those tax years must have been derived from farming and ranching. Applicants must also comply with the provisions of the Highly Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation regulations.

More information can be found at http://farmers.gov/mfp, including payment information and a program application.

People can view the MFP Factsheet online at https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Assets/USDA-FSA-Public/usdafiles/FactSheets/2019/market_facilitation_program-fact_sheet-sept_2019.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery .