$12 Billion In Bridge Payments Made Available For American Farmers

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will make $12 billion available in one-time bridge payments to American farmers in response to temporary trade market disruptions and increased production costs that are still impacting farmers.

What Will The $12 Billion Cover?

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 Barley, Chickpeas, Corn, Cotton, Lentils, Oats, Peanuts, Peas, Rice, Sorghum, Soybeans, Wheat, Canola, Crambe, Flax, Mustard, Rapeseed, Safflower, Sesame, and Sunflower.

The FBA Program provides proportional support to producers, applying 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.

Where Does The Money Come From?

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).

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.

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said, “The plan we are announcing today ensures American farmers can continue to plan for the next crop year. We must do what it takes to help our farmers, because if we cannot feed ourselves, we will no longer have a country. With this program serving as a bridge to the improvements President Trump and Republicans in Congress have made, it will allow farmers to leverage strengthened price protection risk management tools and the reliability of fair trade deals so they do not have to depend on large ad hoc assistance packages from the government.”