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| Harvest continued in central Illinois during the last week of September and first week of October. Photo by Jim Baltz. |
by Ryan Hanrahan, University of Illinois’ FarmDoc project
Reuters’ Leah Douglas and Bo Erickson reported that “the Trump administration is expected to announce a plan as soon as Tuesday (today) to bail out U.S. farmers stung by trade disputes and big harvests, with the initial outlay potentially totaling up to $15 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter.”
“The plan, however, could be difficult to roll out as an ongoing government shutdown prevents the kind of Congressional action needed to approve such a large payout, and existing government reserves fall short, the sources said,” Douglas and Erickson reported. “Farmers generally support President Donald Trump but have pressed his administration for trade deals as China continues to spurn U.S. soybean purchases amid tit-for-tat tariffs, and a record corn harvest threatens to sink farmer profits.”
“Republican lawmakers have warned farmers face ‘financial calamity’ if they do not receive aid by the end of the year. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week that the White House would announce aid for farmers on Tuesday,” Douglas and Erickson reported. “Three sources told Reuters they expected the administration to announce the package this week.”
“One of those sources said the bailout would total somewhere between $10 billion and $15 billion, and would be a necessary bridge to get farmers through the harvest months and could be followed by additional aid,” Douglas and Erickson reported. “The funds would go to soybean farmers affected by the China trade spat, as well as other types of commodity farmers, though the exact details were not yet determined, that source said.”
Ag Groups Send Letter Appealing for Aid
Agri-Pulse’s Philip Brasher reported that “more than 200 national and state agricultural organizations appealed Monday to President Donald Trump for economic assistance, and a top White House official said an aid package would be announced ‘really, really soon.'”
“A letter sent to the White House Monday and signed by 215 groups doesn’t directly mention the impact of the president’s trade policy, which has resulted in China shutting down purchases of U.S. farm commodities,” Brasher reported. “The letter notes that while the budget reconciliation bill signed into law this summer included ‘significant’ changes to commodity programs, farmers won’t see the resulting payments until October 2026. ‘In the meantime, growers will continue to face enormously challenging market conditions.'”
“In a separate letter Monday to Trump, the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance asked for aid to specialty crop growers, who the group says ‘confront a host of unprecedented challenges. Rising input costs, overly burdensome regulations, limited access to labor, unfair trade practices by foreign countries, and natural disasters ranging from flood to drought have all impeded the global competitiveness of our growers,'” Brasher reported.
Ongoing Gov’t Shutdown Could Delay Aid Package
Douglas and Erickson reported that “Trump has said repeatedly that the administration will use tariff income to pay for farmer aid. But such direct payments to farmers are statutorily capped at $350 million, a fraction of the sum being discussed, and can only be adjusted by Congress. That adjustment is difficult to achieve while the federal government is shut down, two of the sources said.”
“Another option is to draw down funds from the Commodity Credit Corporation, a financing mechanism at the USDA that is typically refilled each year in autumn, but has not been refilled because of the shutdown, said Jonathan Coppess, associate professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,” Douglas and Erickson reported.
Agri-Pulse’s Oliver Ward reported that “top Senate Ag Committee appropriator Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., told reporters (this past) Friday that the government shutdown could delay Trump administration efforts to give tariff support to farmers.”
“‘We’re kind of looking at (this) week maybe to do something,’ Hoeven told reporters on Thursday,” Ward reported. “‘But I think that could change now with the shutdown.'”
