Texas Corn Producers Association (TCPA) President Joe Reed, a farmer from Kress, Texas, issued the following in response to the trade aid package released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today:

“The aid package announced by USDA not only fails to offer a glimmer of relief to Texas corn farmers, but is an insult to their hard work and livelihoods that have suffered gut-wrenching blows from the Administration’s ongoing disruptions to the trade market.

Hit by drawn out North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) discussions, tariffs were a knock back that was further insult to injury many Texas farmers were enduring.

Further compounding the fracture to Texas farmers’ livelihoods is the severe drought that gravely impacted corn acres across the state – leaving 2018 production in shambles. With little production to show for the 2018 crop due to unfavorable weather, Texas farmers stand to lose even more as USDA slights them the ‘aid’ promised by the Administration for its actions that have left the corn market in turmoil.

We knew all along this ‘aid’ wasn’t meant to make farmers whole, but a mere penny per bushel is a slap in the face to our farmers working to make ends meet to provide a quality, affordable food source for consumers in America and abroad. National Corn Growers Association provided USDA an analysis showing a $.44 per bushel impact on corn from trade disruptions - an effort that evidently fell on deaf ears.

Though today’s news of a potential trade agreement with Mexico is promising, we are disappointed in what little has been done to aid those taking the sword for trade negotiations in our country. Our farmers want to be treated fairly in the market place and have a market that works so their farm businesses can grow.”