P.J. By P.J.

CHICAGO, Reuters – In 2019, the Department of Agriculture paid U.S. corn growers an estimated $3 billion more for the effects of former President Donald J. Trump’s trade policies. This was partly because they overestimated their export revenue, according to a Monday nonpartisan agency report.

In 2018, and 2019, the Market Facilitation Program distributed $23 Billion in payments to farmers through the USDA’s Farm Service Agency. This was to offset the devastating effects that Trump’s trade war with China had on farmers.

The payments to corn farmers exceeded USDA’s last estimated trade damages by $3 billion. However, soybean, sorghum and cotton farmers got less than USDA’s trade loss, according to a report from U.S. Government Accountability Office.

A U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee requested the report. It also showed that different USDA regions received different payments for different crops.

According to the report, farmers in the South received the greatest benefits, while those in the Northeast or West were paid the lowest amount.

The wildly varying payouts were confusing and irritating for farmers at the time. Local USDA employees also had limited training and had difficulty processing applications or paying out payments.

In a Monday statement, the GAO announced that they had suggested better reviews and increased transparency in USDA analyses.

The GAO recommended that USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) be more transparent in its methodology process, as well as revise its processes for assessing the baselines by which farmers are granted aid.

OCE differed with the conclusions of the report and stated its team was competent. GAO’s recommendations shouldn’t be directed at OCE. OCE also claimed that OCE wasn’t involved in policy decisions.

USDA has not yet responded to queries about the conclusions of the report.