Ag News: USDA MFP Pmts Round 2
**Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue says the USDA will begin making a second round of trade aid payments for 2019 to U.S. farmers next week.
The payments are the second of three waves of a $16 billion aid package announced in May to compensate farmers for the U.S.-China trade war.
Perdue says producers of MFP-eligible commodities will now be eligible to receive 25% of the total payment expected, in addition to the 50% they already received in the first round.
**Despite all the new varieties and flavors of yogurt on store shelves, U.S. yogurt sales are in a multiyear slump.
Yogurt companies are confident that more new products can boost sales, but, according to apnews.com, some analysts are skeptical, saying larger trends, like growing sales of protein bars, will be hard to turn around.
U.S. sales of yogurt and yogurt drinks peaked at nearly $9 billion in 2015. In 2019, they’re expected to hit $8.2 billion, down 3.6% from 2018, and expected to fall another 10% by 2024.
**Americans have the world's most affordable groceries. That’s according to an American Farm Bureau Federation analysis.
The AFBF reports that people in lower-income countries spend much more of their household budget on food than those in high-income countries, and added that agricultural trade and policy can take some of the volatility out of global food prices.