14 cents on half of 2018 production: Trade mitigation package offered to wheat farmers

It started at the end of August with postcards arriving in farmers and landowner’s mailboxes around Whitman County.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue launched a trade mitigation package Sept. 4 aimed at assisting farmers due to trade retaliation after new U.S. tariffs on imports put in by the Trump administration.

The USDA’s Market Facilitation Program (MFP) offers 14 cents on half of the 2018 production of wheat.

“Am I happy about it? Not really. I’d rather have a healthy market,” said Gary Bailey, a third-generation St. John farmer and chairman of the board for Washington Grain Comm...