USDA to pay farmers $8 billion for fuel and fertilizer costs, with crop payment rates due in November

Farmers facing high diesel and fertilizer bills this harvest will get a share of $8 billion in one-time federal payments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday.

President Donald Trump unveiled the Harvest Fuel Relief program at a rally in Kansas alongside Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. USDA said the money is meant to offset temporary market disruptions and higher input costs during the 2026 crop year.

How payments will be figured

According to USDA, payments will follow a single formula that covers part of modeled losses, much like this year's Farmer Bridge Assistance program. The agency will build a national average loss from three sources: planted acres that producers report to the Farm Service Agency, cost-of-production estimates from the Economic Research Service, and yields and prices from the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.

The Farm Service Agency will run the program under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act. Payment rates for each Title I commodity are scheduled for release in November. USDA said it would announce later how it will pay for other eligible commodities.

Producers do not need to be enrolled in crop insurance to take part. USDA said it still urges farmers to use the expanded risk management tools in the Working Families Tax Cuts Act.

Getting ready to apply

USDA has not yet opened an application period. The agency is telling eligible producers to set up a Login.gov account now, because applications will come pre-filled online for producers whose Login.gov account is linked to USDA.

Growers of crops outside Title I, including specialty crops, and fishermen can email information on their rising fuel costs to HarvestFuel@usda.gov for the agency to weigh when it sets payment rates.

Why now

In a report carried by KTEN, CNN tied the farm squeeze partly to the Iran war. Fighting in the Middle East cut off roughly a third of the global fertilizer supply that usually passes through the Strait of Hormuz, sending prices up this year, and diesel has reached record prices, the network reported.

CNN also noted the package comes two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

USDA said the Farmer Bridge Assistance program sent $12 billion in one-time payments to more than 560,000 farmers earlier this year. The agency also said producers received nearly $14 billion in gross payments through the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs two weeks ago.

Sources

usda.gov

KTEN