Sign-up continues through Dec. 6 for the Market Facilitation Program, a U.S. Department of Agriculture program to assist farmers who suffer damages because of tariffs imposed on agricultural products in response to U.S. tariffs.

The Agriculture Department will provide up to $14.5 billion to farmers, part of a relief package announced in July.

MFP payments will be made to producers of certain non-specialty and specialty crops as well as dairy and hog producers.

MFP payments will be made to producers of alfalfa hay, barley, canola, corn, crambe, dried beans, dry peas, extra-long staple cotton, flaxseed, lentils, long grain and medium grain rice, millet, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, rapeseed, rye, safflower, sesame seed, small and large chickpeas, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower seed, temperate japonica rice, triticale, upland cotton and wheat.

Assistance for 2019 crops is based on a single county payment rate multiplied by a farm’s total plantings to eligible crops in aggregate in 2019. Those per acre payments are not dependent on which of those crops are planted in 2019. Total payment-eligible plantings cannot exceed total 2018 plantings.

Dairy producers who were in business as of June 1, will receive a per hundredweight payment on production history, and hog producers will receive a payment based on the number of live hogs owned on a day selected by the producer April 1 to May 15.

MFP payments will also be made to producers of almonds, cranberries, cultivated ginseng, fresh grapes, fresh sweet cherries, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pistachios and walnuts. Each crop will receive a payment based on 2019 acres of fruit- or nut-bearing plants, or in the case of ginseng, the harvested acres in 2019.

Payments will be made in up to three tranches, with the second and third tranches evaluated as market conditions and trade opportunities dictate. If conditions warrant, the second and third tranches will be made in November and January.

Payments are limited to a combined $250,000 for non-specialty crops per person or legal entity. Payments are limited to a combined $250,000 for dairy and hog producers and $250,000 for specialty crop producers. No applicant can receive more than $500,000.

Applicants must have an average adjusted gross income for tax years 2015, 2016, and 2017 of less than $900,000, or 75% of the person’s or legal entity’s average AGI for those tax years must have been derived from farming and ranching. Applicants must also comply with the provisions of the Highly Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation regulations.

For details, visit www.farmers.gov/mfp.