Eligible producers can tap into $12 billion aid program
President Donald Trump and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a $12 billion Farmer Bridge Assistance Program to help producers impacted by market disruptions and high input costs that two Trump administration officials said on Dec. 7 will be a big help.
Up to $11 billion will be distributed through FBAP, with payments based on 2025 planted acres and cost of production. Payments will be capped at $155,000 per person or legal entity and an adjusted gross income limit of $900,000 will be the threshold. Commodity-specific payment rates will be released by Dec. 22, with payments expected by Feb. 28, 2026. The remaining $1 billion will support specialty crops. The program aims to provide stability until the 2026 improvements from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Richard Fordyce, the undersecretary for USDA’s farm production and conservation mission area, said President Trump and Secretary Brooke Rollins announced $12 billion in one-time bridge payments to help producers manage the continued fallout from unfair market disruptions, elevated input costs and four years of policies that left the farm economy on shaky ground.
Fordyce’s mission area includes Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Risk Management Agency.
“These bridge payments are intended to help producers stay afloat until the major improvements from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including a 10 to 21% increase in reference prices that take effect in October of 2026,” Fordyce said. “This program provides broad, proportional support for row crop producers across a long list of commodities, from soybeans and corn to tice, peanuts, lentils, cotton, sunflowers, wheat and many more. FBAP addresses the real challenges producers are facing: higher fertilizer and fuel costs, persistent inflation, and market losses tied to foreign competitors who aren’t playing by the rules.”
FBAP uses a straightforward, uniform formula based on planted acres, cost of production data, and was forecast to model economic losses for the 2025 crop year. Payments will cover a portion of those modeled losses scaled to fit within the $11 billion available, he said. The program is simple, proportional and fair, he said, with no complicated factors and producers will not be carved up by crop or region.
“There will not be any regional differences in this program,” Fordyce said. “Corn in North Dakota will be treated like corn in Louisiana.”
Producers should ensure their 2025 acreage reports are accurate by 5 p.m. (Eastern time) Dec. 19, because those acres are the basis for payment calculations, Fordyce said. Crop insurance linkage is not required for FBAP, he said, but strongly encouraged producers to look at the new risk management tools available through OBBBA, because they will offer improved protection against price volatility.
Luke Lindbergh, the undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs with USDA, said, “The reality is, in the sense of our farm economy, our farmers export about $170 billion of their products every year, and we need trade as part of a robust farm economy. It’s without a doubt an important and critical aspect of making sure that our farmers meet their bottom lines, get the sales they need to support their families back at home.
“Almost 11 months of President Trump’s administration, he signed agreements with 15 countries creating tens of billions of dollars of purchase commitments and opportunities for our farmers around the world.”
Fordyce and Lindberg spoke during a media conference call after the announcement was made.
Program was expected
FBAP will help crop farmers, said Brad Lubben, a University of Nebraska policy and Extension specialist, because of trade conflicts that have hurt exports. Rollins and other members of the Trump administration have previously said that trade assistance would come.
Perhaps some of the delay may have been a result of the Oct. 30 announcement that China was going to resume buying United States soybeans, he said. The administration said China was going to buy 12 million metric tons the rest of the year and 25 million metric tons for 2026-28.
The soybean market rebounded substantially after the news on the promises of Chinese purchases, but the bottom line was the economics remained challenging and would continue into 2026, Lubben said.
“This ultimately was announced as relief from trade conflicts and trade losses, but also relief from ongoing economic challenges,” Lubben said. “It’s a little bit broader in scope than what was proposed. While we wait to see official numbers and calculations it looks like it will be reflective of the current economics of both market prospects, including the impact of trade conflicts, as well as the production cost challenges from high production costs and tight margins.”
Lubben expects the relief package to be similar to the emergency crop assistance program that was passed by Congress a year ago and delivered this year. Payment calculations were based on prices and costs and economic returns or projected losses. The payments were made to all of the program commodities.
“My first instinct is it became an economic assistance package, even though it was first described predominantly as trade assistance help, and it may look an awful lot like what we saw earlier this year,” Lubben said. “Theoretically they call it a bridge program—a bridge to the higher payments that are projected under commodity programs for the 2025 crop that won’t get paid until October 2026.”
Producers earlier in 2025 received an Emergency Commodity Assistance Program that was described as economic relief from the 2024 crop and came on the heels of Congress not approving a farm bill, Lubben said.
Dave Bergmeier can be reached at 620-227-1822 or [email protected].
