WASHINGTON, D.C. – Trump administration trade policies and its war in Iran have created yet another emergency bailout to farmers, funded by American taxpayers. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will make $8 billion available for one-time payments to American farmers this harvest season to provide relief during market disruptions and increased input costs. Similar to the Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) program that delivered $12 billion in one-time-, taxpayer funded payments to farmers, the Harvest Fuel Relief (HFR) program will provide proportional financial assistance to producers using a uniform formula to cover a portion of modeled losses during the 2026 crop year. This national loss average will be based on FSA reported planted acres, Economic Research Service cost of production estimates, and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates yields and prices. The $8 billion in payments will be administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA). Another U.S. farmer bailout process outlined Commodity-specific payment rates for Title I commodities will be released in November. Payment methodology for other eligible commodities will be announced at a later date. Crop insurance linkage will not be required for participation in the Harvest Fuel Relief program; however, USDA strongly urges producers to take advantage of the enhanced risk management tools included in the Working Families Tax Cuts Act to best protect against price risk and volatility in the future. Producers of non-Title I commodities, including specialty crop growers and fishermen, are encouraged to provide data related to increased fuel costs to [email protected] for USDA’s consideration when determining payment rates. Eligible producers are encouraged to create a Login.gov account in advance of the application period announcement. Pre-filled applications will be available online to producers with a Login.gov account linked to USDA. In Trumps first administration, direct, tax-payer funded assistance to farmers, beyond regular Farm Bill subsidies, was roughly $46.5 billion dollars. During Trump’s second term, direct, taxpayer funded assistance to farmers, beyond regular Farm Bill subsidies, is projected to total nearly $48 billion dollars for 2025 and 2026, according to USDA estimates. That figure increases to nearly $56 billion dollars after Trump announced the additional $8 billion dollars in harvest-related aid on Oct. 19, 2026. Share via: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn More