USDA provides information on $12 billion in agricultural aid disbursements; Soy growers say the lighting is inadequate

Rice, cotton and oat farmers will receive the highest rates, while soybean growers will get $30.88 per acre.

The Farmer Bridge Assistance program is expected to distribute $11 billion in one-time payments to farmers, which will be paid per acre if they plant one of the 19 staple crops eligible for the program, the USDA said in a statement Wednesday.

U.S. farmers produced bumper corn and soybean harvests this fall amid a global grain glut, losing billions of dollars as crop prices fall. Soybean farmers were hit particularly hard by the loss of soybean sales to China, by far the world’s largest buyer, as the country turned to South American suppliers during stalled trade negotiations.

While the aid is expected to help farmers prepare for the next planting season, growers and agricultural economists say the payments are only a fraction of farm losses and will not save the sagging U.S. agricultural economy.

The highest payments per hectare will be paid to rice farmers, who could receive $132.89 per hectare; cotton farmers, at $117.35 per acre; and oat farmers, at $81.75 per acre. Meanwhile, farmers are eligible to receive payments of $44.36 per acre of corn, $30.88 per acre of soybeans and $39.35 per acre of wheat. The payments are calculated based on 2,025 planted acres, production cost data and market conditions, USDA said.

“Due to significant trade losses this year, the soybean payment rate will likely not be sufficient for soybean farmers to keep their operations financially solvent as we enter the next planting season,” said Scott Metzger, an Ohio farmer and president of the American Soybean Association, a trade group representing nearly half a million soybean producers.

Sorghum growers are expected to receive more than soybean growers: $48.11 per hectare, and see the payments as welcome help even as export demand has improved recently, said Tim Lust, chief executive of the National Sorghum Producers.

Other eligible crops include peanuts, sorghum, barley, rapeseed, sunflowers, lentils, peas, mustard, safflower, flax, large and small chickpeas and sesame. The payments are expected to be received by Feb. 28, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement.

U.S. President Donald Trump initially unveiled the $12 billion relief package for U.S. farmers on Dec. 8, after farmer groups and Republican farm state lawmakers requested the aid in part to support farmers with the purchase of seeds, fertilizer and other expenses.

The remaining $1 billion of the $12 billion relief package will be set aside for specialty crop and sugar farmers, USDA said, but how that money will be distributed and the timing of such payments is still being determined.

Published on January 1, 2026