The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Monday it will make $12 billion available in one-time bridge payments to American farmers in response to temporary trade market disruptions and increased production costs. The package includes $11 billion in one-time payments to crop farmers through a new USDA bridge payment program and the remaining $1 billion will then go to specialty crops not covered by that program. It does not include livestock and poultry.
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 applies 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.
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).
