Market News & Headlines >> Planned Aid Said to Include $2 per Bushel for Soybeans

The Trump administration is considering payments of $2 per bushel for soybeans, 63 cents per bushel for wheat and 4 cents per bushel for corn as part of a package of up to $20 billion in aid to offset U.S. farmers' losses from the trade war with China, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

Those payments would be larger than the ones paid out to farmers under last year’s Market Facilitation Program (MFP). MFP payments totaled $1.65 per bushel for soybeans, 14 cents per bushel for wheat and 1 cent for corn. 

A USDA spokeswoman told Reuters News Service the details of the aid package would be released soon, without commenting on the reported payment rates. She added that the aid was designed to avoid skewing planting decisions. Bloomberg reported the aid package could be announced as soon as Thursday.

"Farmers should continue to make their planting and production decisions with the current market signals in mind, rather than some expectation of what a trade mitigation program might or might not look like," she said in emailed comments to Reuters.