The Trump administration is planning to send bailout checks to farmers, which could help offset losses from the ongoing trade war and low crop prices.
President Donald Trump announced the $12 billion bailout package alongside Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday afternoon during a roundtable with farmers at the White House. The money comes from a U.S. Department of Agriculture fund, Politico reports.
Up to $11 billion is slated for farmers who grow row crops, such as corn, soybeans, sorghum and cotton. Rollins said eligible farmers will know how much money they will receive by the end of the month, and the dollars will move by the end of February 2026.
The other $1 billion will be reserved for farmers who grow specialty crops like fruits and vegetables, she said.
“The plan we are announcing today ensures American farmers can continue to plan for the next crop year,” Rollins said in a USDA announcement. “It is imperative we do what it takes to help our farmers, because if we cannot feed ourselves, we will no longer have a country.”
But some farmers say the bailout money will go straight to banks and suppliers.
Richard Oswald grows corn and soybeans in Missouri. He said the bailout will let some farmers pay off last year’s operating loans, so they can borrow more to cover planting this spring.
“There's money to pay the bill now,” he said. “Liquidity is another word for it. A lot of farmers right now, I'm hearing from people, have liquidity problems.”
Many farmers are grappling with high costs for purchases like fertilizer and equipment while market prices for many crops are down. The ongoing trade war, sparked by the Trump administration’s widespread tariffs, has also disrupted export markets for many U.S. farmers.
Earlier this year, China stopped buying American soybeans to retaliate against Trump’s tariffs. That left soybean farmers without their top buyer for months.
China has since agreed to purchase 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans, but that’s less than half of what the country typically buys. China has imported 26 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans, on average, each year since 2010.
American Farm Bureau president Zippy Duvall said in a news release that the payments could be the difference between keeping a farm open and shutting its doors.
“America’s farmers have been hit from every direction during this economic storm,” Duvall said in the release. “They face the same high prices as all of America’s families, as more of their income is going to household bills and higher operating costs, including loans, equipment and supplies. At the same time, farmers are receiving historically low prices for most major crops.”
But many farmers say bailout payments are only a temporary lifeline.
“Short-term payments, while important, are only a first step,” said National Farmers Union president Rob Larew in a statement. “What we truly need are long-term structural fixes that restore viability and stability to family farms and ranches for generations to come.”
The Trump administration has hinted at a possible bailout for months. The payments will be the second time that Trump has compensated farmers for trade-related losses.
During his first term, Trump gave farmers more than $23 billion in taxpayer dollars. There was a $27 billion reduction of U.S. agricultural exports from mid-2018 through the end of 2019, according to a USDA report.
KCUR's Frank Morris contributed to this report.
This story was produced in partnership with Harvest Public Media, a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest and Great Plains. It reports on food systems, agriculture and rural issues.
