Although local radio and television stations, as well as other social media sources, have carried news about one of the region's biggest pulse crop company's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and reorganization, local sources reported that they are unaware of any Blaine County producers who were using the JM Grain, Incorporated facility to market their pulse crops.

JM Grain, Incorporated, which has offices in both Garrison, North Dakota, and Great Falls, Montana, claimed that sales in the current year are about $3.5 million compared to the normal of about $13 million. They partially blame these price drops on tariffs and trade disruptions.

To help producers during these trade disruptions, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced on July 25 details of a $16 billion package aimed at supporting American agricultural producers while the Administration continues to work on free, fair, and reciprocal trade deals.

In May, President Donald Trump directed Secretary Perdue to craft a relief strategy in line with the estimated impacts of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods and other trade disruptions. The Market Facilitation Program (MFP) is one of three programs that will assist agricultural producers while President Trump works to address long-standing market access barriers.

"China and other nations have not played by the rules for a long time, and President Trump is the first President to stand up to them and send a clear message that the United States will no longer tolerate unfair trade practices," Secretary Perdue said. "The details we announced last week ensure farmers will not stand alone in facing unjustified retaliatory tariffs while President Trump continues working to solidify better and stronger trade deals around the globe.

"Our team at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reflected on what worked well and gathered feedback on last year's program to make this one even stronger and more effective for farmers. Our farmers work hard; they are the most productive in the world, and we aim to match their enthusiasm and patriotism as we support them," Secretary Perdue added.

Sign-up for the MFP began on Monday, July 29 and will end on December 6, 2019. Producers should sign-up at their local FSA office. The first payment, which will be comprised of the higher of either 50 percent of a producer's calculated payment or $15 per acre, will be made in mid-to-late August. If conditions warrant, a second payment may be made in November, and a third in early January.

According to the USDA, payments will be made by the FSA under the authority of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Charter Act to producers of alfalfa hay, barley, canola, corn, crambe, dried beans, dry peas, extra-long staple cotton, flaxseed, lentils, long grain and medium grain rice, millet, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, rapeseed, rye, safflower, sesame seed, small and large chickpeas, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower seed, temperate japonica rice, triticale, upland cotton, and wheat. MFP assistance for those non-specialty crops is based on a single county payment rate multiplied by a farm's total plantings of 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. County payment rates range from $15 to $150 per acre, depending on the impact of unjustified trade retaliation in that county.

Dairy producers who were in business as of June 1, 2019, will receive a per hundred weight 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 will also be made to producers of almonds, cranberries, cultivated ginseng, fresh grapes, fresh sweet cherries, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pistachios, and walnuts. Each specialty crop will receive a payment based on 2019 acres of fruit or nut bearing plants, or in the case of ginseng, based on harvested acres in 2019.

Acreage of non-specialty crops and cover crops must be planted by August 1, 2019 to be considered eligible for MFP payments.

The MFP rule and a related Notice of Funding Availability was published in the Federal Register on July 29, 2019, when sign-up began at local FSA offices. Per-acre non-specialty crop county payment rates, specialty crop payment rates, and livestock payment rates are all currently available on farmers.gov.

For more information on the MFP, interested persons are encouraged to visit http://www.farmers.gov/mfp or to contact Tracy Harshman, Executive Director at Blaine County FSA office, either by visiting 228 Ohio Street North in Chinook or by calling 357-2320.