As much as $11 billion will come from a new Department of Agriculture program providing bridge payments to farmers of corn, cotton, sorghum, soybean, rice, cattle, wheat, potato and other row crops.
The Farmer Bridge Assistance program is meant to help the farmers “recover from years of unjustified trade actions on American agricultural goods by foreign governments, accumulated inflation costs under the previous administration and other market disruptions,” a White House official said.
“Payments will provide certainty to farmers as they market this year’s harvest and plan for next year’s crops,” the source said.
Another $1 billion will be set aside for crop producers not covered by the program. The pending announcement was first reported by Bloomberg.
Trump will be joined by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and other members of Congress for a White House event to announce the funding.
The bailout comes amid the president’s trade wars — particularly those involving exports to China — and as farmers are expected to be $28 billion in the red for the 2025-26 crop year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. The figure is up from $17 billion the previous year.
In terms of one crucial crop, soybeans, the US exports almost half of its production annually, while China usually takes around one-quarter of the total 29 million metric tons of what’s exported every year. But ongoing talks with Beijing stalled purchases and caused price fluctuations.
The other half of US soybean production is processed for livestock feed, various cooking oils and biofuels such as diesel.
In October, Bessent announced that China had agreed to buy 12 million metric tons of US soybeans this season and 25 million tons annually for each of the next three years as part of a trade agreement.
The US in turn said it would lower tariffs on Chinese goods to 47% after threatening up to 100% in additional import duties.
Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies spiked 60% in the first half of this year when compared with 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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