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Which commodities received the largest and smallest USDA tariff relief payments under the Trump administration?
Executive summary
USDA Market Facilitation Program (MFP) under the Trump administration delivered multi‑billion dollar rounds of direct payments to compensate farmers for losses from foreign retaliatory tariffs; initial announcements called for roughly $4.7 billion in payments to seven commodities in 2018 and authorization later allowed up to $14.5 billion for 2019, with total assistance across programs cited as about $23 billion in some reporting [1] [2] [3]. Available sources list the commodities targeted (soybeans, corn, wheat, cotton, sorghum, pork, dairy) but the search results here do not provide a single ranked table showing which commodity received the largest or smallest MFP tariff‑relief dollar amounts by commodity [4] [5].
1. What the Trump-era “tariff relief” program was and how payments were set
The core vehicle for tariff‑related relief was the Market Facilitation Program (MFP), established under the Commodity Credit Corporation and administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency; payment rates were set “based on the severity of the trade disruption” and each producer’s actual production, with specific per‑commodity formulas and per‑person caps for certain commodities [5]. Initial emergency aid announced in late August 2018 described roughly $4.7 billion in direct payments to producers of seven commodities and up to $1.2 billion in government commodity purchases as part of a roughly $6 billion first wave; later messaging expanded authorized support for 2019 to up to $14.5 billion [1] [2].
2. Which commodities were explicitly named as recipients
Reporting in this collection consistently lists soybeans, corn, wheat, cotton, sorghum, pork (hogs), and dairy among the commodities targeted for MFP payments; USDA and agriculture press accounts refer to those seven categories as recipients for the second round and in official program descriptions [4] [5]. Other reporting and later summaries of Trump‑era farm aid broaden the universe of assistance across crops, livestock and specialty products, and some outlets summarize a cumulative assistance figure — e.g., “$23 billion” in assistance referenced by regional reporting — but that figure spans multiple programs and years and is not broken down by commodity in the provided search set [3].
3. Which commodities likely received the largest payments — what sources say and what they don’t
The provided articles make clear that USDA tailored payment rates by commodity according to estimated trade impacts and production volume [5]. However, none of the supplied snippets or links in this search batch supplies a definitive, source‑level ranking showing the largest single‑commodity dollar total paid (for example, total dollars to soybeans versus corn) or per‑unit rates across the entire program in a way that allows a simple largest/smallest determination [4] [5]. Consequently, identifying the single “largest” recipient by dollars is not possible from the available reporting: the sources describe program scope and named commodities but do not include a consolidated payment‑by‑commodity table in this set [2] [1] [4].
4. Which commodities likely received the smallest payments — limits of available reporting
Similarly, while some commodities (e.g., specialty or lower‑export crops) might have received smaller absolute payments in practice, the search results here do not present evidence to single out a commodity as the smallest payment recipient under the Trump MFP in dollar terms. USDA’s descriptions mention per‑commodity payment calculations and caps for categories like dairy and hogs, but do not, in these excerpts, show the final aggregated disbursements by commodity needed to declare a smallest recipient [5] [2].
5. Broader numbers and alternative framings you can rely on
If you want headline magnitudes, USDA documentation and contemporaneous news reporting contained in this search set give reliable program totals and authorizations: roughly $4.7 billion in initial direct payments announced in 2018, USDA purchases up to $1.2 billion, and later authorization of up to $14.5 billion for 2019; aggregate assistance across the Trump administration’s trade relief efforts is summarized in some reporting as around $23 billion [1] [2] [3]. Those program totals are useful context but are not a substitute for a per‑commodity payout ranking [2] [1] [3].
6. What you’ll need to answer the question precisely
To state which commodity definitively received the largest or smallest USDA tariff‑relief payments requires the USDA’s final disbursement dataset or a contemporaneous breakdown by commodity from an authoritative source. The current search results do not include that consolidated disbursement table or a news article that reproduces it; therefore, asserting a ranked list from largest to smallest would exceed what these sources provide [4] [5] [2].
7. Recommended next steps to get a definitive ranking
Request the USDA MFP final disbursement report or the Farm Service Agency’s public payment‑by‑commodity data (often released in press releases, USDA data portals, or FOIAed payment tables). Alternatively, consult post‑program investigative reporting or USDA archived spreadsheets that list total dollars paid by commodity and year; those documents will enable a clear largest/smallest comparison (not found in current reporting in this search set) [5] [2].
Limitations: This summary relies solely on the provided search results and therefore cannot produce a commodity‑by‑commodity dollar ranking because those detailed disbursement figures are not present in the supplied sources [4] [5].