For Canadian farmers facing soft grain prices due to tariff threats from the U.S. and some prohibitive tariffs by China, additional government support has been limited.
Meanwhile, American field crop producers are about to receive a $10 billion support payment.
The program is called ECAP, the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program. Payments to American farmers are being based on 2024 seeded acres, with each commodity receiving a different payment per acre.
The initial corn payment will be roughly $43 an acre, soybeans will be nearly $30, wheat will be almost $31 an acre, barley will be nearly $22, oats will be nearly $78 and lentils will be just over $19 an acre. Producers can now sign up for the payments.
Whatever money is left in the $10 billion program after this initial payment, will be subsequently distributed. The U.S. has seen a drop in net farm income in the past couple years and that has affected input suppliers and farm equipment manufacturers. The USDA money is being distributed to help with spring seeding costs.
It should be noted that these payments are separate from the $21 billion in proposed natural disaster aid payments to be rolled out later this year.
Here in Canada, additional support for farmers has been limited to reestablishing the $250,000 interest free component to the Advance Payments Program and an extra billion dollars in lending capacity for Farm Credit Canada.