This afternoon USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue had a press briefing about the administration’s package of market stabilization actions intended to address what was called the “unexpected marketing situation” for U.S. agriculture resulting from the trade dispute with China and other trading partners. The mitigation package, which totals $12 billion in funds, will come in the following three parts:

Market Facilitation Program: issues direct payments to producers of soybeans, sorghum, corn, wheat, cotton, dairy and hogs Food Purchase and Distribution Program: purchases unexpected surpluses of affected commodities such as fruits, nuts, rice, legumes, beef, pork and milk for distribution to food banks and other nutrition progra...