The Trump administration last week revealed details of a $16 billion aid package for farmers hit in the U.S.-China trade war, with key provisions meant to avoid large corporations scooping up big payouts at the expense of small farmers.
According to a report released Tuesday by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG), most of the $8.4 billion given out so far in last year’s farm bailout went to wealthy farmers, exacerbating the economic disparity with smaller farmers.
An EWG analysis found that the top one-tenth of recipients received 54 percent of all payments. Eighty-two farmers have so far received more than $500,000 in trade relief.
One farm, DeLine Farm Partnership of Charleston, Mo., has so far received $2.8 million.
The top 1 percent of recipients of trade relief received, on average, $183,331. The bottom 80 percent received, on average, less than $5,000, EWG said.
