Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 9/11/18

Critics of the Trump administration's trade assistance program have pointed out that farmers in Midwestern states like Iowa and Indiana, which went for Donald Trump in 2016, are set to receive the bulk of the initial $4.7 billion USDA plans to distribute to certain producers buffeted by retaliatory tariffs.

A sleek new graphic from Pro DataPoint's Taylor Miller Thomas, using data and analysis from USDA and the American Farm Bureau Federation, shows how that money is likely to be spread throughout the 50 states in the months ahead — and the heartland clearly comes out on top.

The biggest winners: Farmers in Illinois, which went for Hillary Clinton in 2016, are in line to receive the most in direct payments — an estimated $597 million. Iowa farmers are projected to receive $578 million. Illinois and Iowa are the country's biggest producers of corn and soybeans, the two most widely grown crops in the U.S.

The market facilitation program aims to reimburse producers of pork, dairy, corn, wheat, soybeans, sorghum and cotton for a portion of their tariff-induced losses. USDA officials have said those seven products were chosen because of the fall harvest schedule, not politically motivated favoritism for the Midwest.

Minnesota, Indiana and Nebraska producers would receive the next biggest slices of the pot: an estimated $360 million, $312 million and $306 million, respectively. Those top five states, which are also major contributors of hog production, account for 45 percent of the first batch of trade aid.

Ten other states are projected to receive at least $100 million in direct payments to farmers — and they're all in the middle of the country. That pattern has upset growers of specialty crops in the West.