Tens of thousands of US farmers are still awaiting a payout from President Trump's multibillion-dollar agricultural bailout program — and that delay has cost the government more than a $1,000,000 so far this year.
— and that delay has cost the government more than a million dollars so far this year.
At least 31,597 farmers and ranchers received MFP payments late from January to April, according to USDA data obtained by NBC News through a Freedom of Information Act request. From the start of the program in September 2018 through August of this year, 596,851 applications had been submitted. “We’ve got more work than we can really get done in a single day,” said a county executive director at an FSA in Iowa, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of being fired. “When you're taking in a few thousand MFP applications, plus certifying and everything else that goes into it, it’s time consuming. I think every office in the state is what I would call understaffed.”
“That was the worst-timed shutdown for farmers that there's probably ever been,” said Michelle Jones, a fourth-generation wheat and grain farmer in Montana whose MFP payment was late this year. “It really disrupted planning because most farmers operate on a calendar year. There are always inconveniences with a shutdown, but not to the magnitude of that one.”
County staffers said the application process appeared more straightforward this year, with the program also changed in part to reduce influence over planting decisions. But they added the overhaul would present another steep learning curve for offices that were already shorthanded.
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