10.609: Trade Adjustment Assistance

10.609

Inactive

Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) [USDA]

Sept. 7, 2017

Sept. 23, 2016

Under the program, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides technical assistance and cash benefits to eligible farmers and fishermen if increased imports contributed importantly to a production or price decline of greater than 15 percent. Technical assistance under the program provides access to a wide variety of resources from USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), their county Extension Service, and their education contractor, the University of Minnesota’s Center for Farm Financial Management (CFFM), to assist producers in exploring alternative crops or improved marketing techniques for their current enterprise. The program's goal is to help producers respond proactively to import competition through training and cash benefits.

D - Direct Payments with Unrestricted Use

The TAA review process is two-tier and consists of a petition application process and a producer application process. First, group petitions must demonstrate, using data for the most recent, full marketing year or full official marketing season, a greater than 15-percent decline in at least one of the following factors: national average price, quantity of production, value of production, or cash receipts. In addition, petitions must also demonstrate that the decline in one of the cited factors be importantly caused by an increase in imports. If a petition is certified, individual producers may apply at their local FSA field office. Producers must demonstrate they produced the agricultural commodity in the marketing year for which the petition is filed and in at least one of three preceding marketing years. Producers must also demonstrate that they experienced a decrease in the production or price of the agricultural commodity in the marketing year for which the petition is certified, compared to the most recent prior marketing year preceding that marketing year for which data is available, or demonstrate that USDA’s county price for the petitioned commodity on the petition filing date is less than USDA’s average county price for the past three consecutive marketing years.

Producers of raw commodities who have been adversely affected by import competition and are covered by a certification of eligibility.