WASHINGTON, D.C. – There’s a new phrase in government subsidized agriculture – “bridge payment.” That’s what Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the Trump administration will announce for farmers next week that is designed to provide short-term relief while longer trade and aid packages remain in limbo.

Faced with the prospect of literally losing the farm, ag groups and Republican lawmakers have pushed the administration to issue aid as farmers face low crop prices and billions in lost soybean sales to China. Similar trade policies in the first Trump administration cost the U.S. taxpayer over $23 billion in direct payments in addition to billions more lost in related ag service and support businesses and rural, main street economies.

Bridge Payment Amount Unknown

According to Bart Fischer, co-director of Texas A&M’s Ag and Food Policy Center, speaking to Brownfield Ag News, he anticipates the total price tag could be around $12 billion. “If you were to use the model from last year’s Emergency Commodity Assistance Program, which looked at the cost of production relative to prices, if Congress were or USDA were to mimic that model, our estimates are that it would put the assistance right at about $12 billion. If you were to use that sort of all-encompassing ECAP type framework.”

John Boozman, chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and John Hoeven of North Dakota, chair of the Senate agriculture appropriations committee, said they expect some aid to reach farmers by the end of the year, but are waiting on the administration to settle on the amount and timing.

Boozman said one challenge was getting aid out as fast as possible given the delay due to the 43-day government shutdown.

“The need is definitely there. Our farmers are in a situation that right now, if you’re growing something out of the ground, you’re losing money,” Boozman said.

Money for the aid will come from the Commodity Credit Corporation, a discretionary USDA funding pool, and the White House continues to look for additional funding sources, according to Boozman.