Trump Publicizes $12 Billion Support Bundle For Farmers—Right here’s What We Know
President Donald Trump introduced a $12 billion help package deal for farmers, providing much-needed monetary help to a core constituency hit onerous by the administration’s tariff coverage, though members of the administration sought to attach current struggles to Biden-era insurance policies.
Up to $11 billion of the help package deal can be allotted for an help program for farmers producing row crops, comparable to corn, wheat and soybeans, by way of a Farmer Bridge Assistance program.
Those funds will transfer by Feb. 28, 2026, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins stated at a roundtable with the president and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, however farmers can be knowledgeable how a lot they’ll obtain earlier.
The different $1 billion can be reserved for farmers of different specialty crops, Rollins stated, with Politico reporting this might embrace producers of crops like fruit and vegetable.
Rollins stated the bridge funding was vital as a result of the “farm economy is facing a crisis that we inherited,” blaming the hardships confronted by farmers on the Biden administration’s insurance policies, together with not signing new commerce offers.
Trump additionally stated the administration was planning to scale back environmental rules on farming gear, comparable to that produced by John Deere—insisting tractors and different equipment are getting too costly and “it doesn’t do anything but make the machines break all the time.”
The funds can be approved by the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act, Bloomberg reported, and won’t require the administration to hunt congressional approval to make use of tariff income to fund the bailout.
Trump repeatedly related the funds to tariff earnings, insisting “this money would not be possible without tariffs.”
Trump will announce the help package deal at a spherical desk with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and members of Congress, in accordance with the experiences.
Earlier this 12 months, soybean farmers bore the brunt of Trump’s tariff coverage when China abruptly slashed their U.S. soybean purchases to zero as the 2 international locations struggled to resolve a commerce dispute over uncommon earth minerals. China was beforehand the most important single purchaser of American soybeans, and bought about half of the U.S.’ $24.5 billion soybean crop in 2024. The Trump administration has been weighing choices to deal with the disaster because the commerce dispute started, together with a reported plan to make use of tariff income for a barely smaller bailout. China started importing American soybeans once more in October forward of a gathering between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. After Trump struck a deal with Xi Jinping later the identical month, the president claimed China would resume buying “massive amounts” of soybeans and different crops. Although the Trump administration stated China would purchase 12 million tons of soybeans earlier than the top of the 12 months, the nation has not come near assembly that mark as of late November, Reuters reported.
Big Number
About 60%. That’s how a lot farm bankruptcies rose within the first half of 2025 in comparison with the earlier 12 months, the Washington Post reported citing information from court docket data. A complete of 181 farms throughout the nation filed for chapter within the first two quarters of the 12 months, in comparison with 115 throughout the identical two quarters in 2024.
Contra
In a press release to Forbes, the White House blamed the Biden administration for the current elevated hardship for farmers. “Farmers suffered for years under Joe Biden, who increased the United States’ trade deficit to over $1.2 trillion, raised input costs, pushed woke DEI agricultural policies, and more,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly stated in a press release. “Today’s announcement reflects the President’s commitment to helping our farmers, who will have the support they need to bridge the gap between Biden’s failures and the President’s successful policies taking effect,” Kelly stated.