Bailouts · Agriculture
Farmer Bridge Assistance (2025–26)
Who: Row-crop farmers hit by the 2025 trade war and low prices, plus specialty-crop growers. What: Per-acre “bridge” payments announced in December 2025 and paid from February 2026: $11B for row crops (rice $132.89 an acre, cotton $117.35, corn $44.36, soybeans $30.88, wheat $39.35) and $1.6B for fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
Outcome
$9.83B of row-crop payments signed as of September 2026; specialty-crop payments ($1.6B available) began in June 2026 and are not yet tallied. Payments are capped at $155,000 per person, and people with income over $900,000 are ineligible.
Legal authority: Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act (no new law from Congress); Federal Register rule 2026-03456.
Who got it: By crop, as of April 22, 2026, when about $9.6B had been paid (American Farm Bureau tally)
Where it went: Paid by state (USDA dashboard)
49 states; the top five received 41% of the national total.
All other states (29)
| Kentucky | $131M |
| Louisiana | $128M |
| Tennessee | $117M |
| Washington | $94M |
| California | $83M |
| Idaho | $73M |
| Alabama | $71M |
| Pennsylvania | $64M |
| New York | $54M |
| South Carolina | $52M |
| Virginia | $49M |
| Maryland | $37M |
| Oregon | $32M |
| New Mexico | $20M |
| Florida | $17M |
| Arizona | $15M |
| Delaware | $12M |
| Wyoming | $10M |
| Utah | $9M |
| New Jersey | $7M |
| Vermont | $4M |
| Maine | $3M |
| West Virginia | $3M |
| Nevada | $1M |
| Connecticut | $1M |
| Massachusetts | $1M |
| New Hampshire | $0M |
| Alaska | $0M |
| Rhode Island | $0M |
Oversight
Who was supposed to watch this money, and what happened to them. Oversight of every bailout →
- Jan 2025▼ Oversight cutTrump fires 17 inspectors general without the notice the law requires, including those overseeing PPP and EIDL (SBA), farm aid (USDA), hospital relief (HHS), pandemic transit and airport aid (DOT), pandemic unemployment (Labor), and school relief (Education). USDA's was escorted out of her office. A judge later ruled the firings unlawful but did not reinstate anyone. Source
- Feb 2026▼ Oversight cutFarmer Bridge Assistance begins paying $11B+ from the Commodity Credit Corporation without a new appropriation. No inspector general or GAO audit of it could be found as of September 2026; GAO's one report on it (March 2026) is a routine check of the rule, and nine House Democrats asked GAO for a full review on September 8. Source
Worth knowing
Context: China stopped buying U.S. soybeans during the 2025 tariff fight and bought from Argentina instead; an October 30, 2025 deal committed China to 12 million metric tons by the end of 2025 and 25 million tons a year in 2026–28.
Another $12B of farm aid is in a budget resolution the House adopted 216–214 in July 2026; it had not become law as of late September 2026.