Corn Exports Up, USDA to Issue A Second Emergency Payment

Tariffs on commodities always come at a cost, and farmers are often the ones left paying the price. Troy Schneider, a corn farmer from eastern Colorado and a National Corn Growers Association board member, says that while corn is facing its own challenges, corn exports haven't been hit as hard by tariffs compared to other commodities.

“The tariffs have not affected our exports like they have other commodities. We're seeing record exports of our corn going across the border into Mexico, into other countries, and that's something we're excited about. However, when you have those record-high prices, you know, steel, you look at steel, okay, if I, if I wanted to put a new irrigation well in right now, re-drill it, the casing alone would have, you know, I wouldn't want to guess what the percent of increase would be, what from five, six years ago, before covid. And so it's just those input prices that, yes, we are paying it. We're paying it both ways, in every way.”

Troy Schneider, a National Corn Growers Association board member. And the USDA will issue a second Emergency Commodity Assistance program payment to eligible producers for the 2024 crop year. Payments will automatically be made to producers with approved ECAP applications who received an initial payment. Any application that was approved after September 25 will receive one lump sum.