President Trump has officially announced a $12 billion farm aid package aimed at helping farmers impacted by low crop prices and the administration’s ongoing trade wars.
Trump says the plan will help farmers suffering from inflation and “unfair market disruptions.” During the announcement from the White House on Monday afternoon, Trump pointed a significant amount of blame on President Biden and his administration’s actions for the current financial woes facing America’s farmers.
Of the $12 billion provided, up to $11 billion will be used for the Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) Program, which provides broad relief to United States row crop farmers who produce crops including corn, soybeans, and wheat. FBA will help address market disruptions, elevated input costs, persistent inflation, and market losses from foreign competitors engaging in unfair trade practices that impede exports.
The FBA Program applies simple, proportional support to producers using a uniform formula to cover a portion of modeled losses during the 2025 crop year. This national loss average is based on FSA reported planted acres, Economic Research Service cost of production estimates, World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates yields and prices and economic modeling.
For those farmers who qualify for the FBA Program, USDA says they can expect payments to be released by February 28, 2026. Eligible farmers should ensure their 2025 acreage reporting is factual and accurate by 5 p.m. ET on December 19, 2025. Commodity-specific payment rates will be released by the end of the month.
The remaining $1 billion of the $12 billion in bridge payments will be reserved for commodities not covered in the FBA Program such as specialty crops and sugar, for example, though details including timelines for those payments are still under development and require additional understanding of market impacts and economic needs.
The $12 billion in farmer bridge payments, including those provided through the FBA Program, are authorized under the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Charter Act and will be administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA).
Joining Trump for the announcement at the White House were U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Several farmers were also invited to be part of the announcement including Tyler Everett, a corn and soybean producer from Lebanon, Indiana. He hosted Secretary Rollins at his farm on Oct. 30 during her visit to Indiana for the 98th National FFA Convention & Expo.
To submit questions, justification for USDA farmer bridge aid, or to request a meeting on farmer bridge aid, producers can reach out to farmerbridge@usda.gov.
CLICK BELOW to watch President Trump’s full announcement from the White House:
