WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, the Trump administration announced an aid package of $12 billion for American farmers impacted by Trump’s tariff policy. Senator John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Congresswoman Julie Fedorchak (R-N.D.) both endorsed the deal, but Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) mused that the financial assistance may fall short of the farmers’ needs, and members of the North Dakota Democratic-Nonpartisan League Party found it “insulting.”
On Monday, Dec. 8, President Donald J. Trump alongside Hoeven, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman (Ariz.), Senator Deb Fischer (NE), Representative Austin Scott (Ga.), and farmers from Arkansas, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Texas announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will make $12 billion available in one-time bridge payments to American farmers.
The USDA press release said this was in response to temporary trade market disruptions and increased production costs still impacting farmers following “disastrous” policies of the Biden administration that resulted in record high input prices and zero new trade deals. These bridge payments are intended in part to aid farmers until investments from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), including reference prices which are set to increase between 10-21% for major covered commodities such as soybeans, corn, and wheat will reach eligible farmers on Oct.1, 2026. Of the $12 billion provided, up to $11 billion will be used for the Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) Program, which provides relief to American row crop farmers who produce barley, chickpeas, corn, cotton, lentils, oats, peanuts, peas, rice, sorghum, soybeans, wheat, canola, crambe, flax, mustard, rapeseed, safflower, sesame, and sunflower. Farmers who qualify for the program can expect payments to be released by Feb. 28, 2026. Eligible farmers should ensure their 2025 acreage reporting is factual and accurate by 5 p.m. ET on Dec. 19.
“President Trump will not let our farmers be left behind, so he directed our team to build a bridge program to see quick relief while the President’s dozens of new trade deals and new market access take effect,” said Rollins. “The plan we are announcing today ensures American farmers can continue to plan for the next crop year. 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. With this program serving as a bridge to the improvements President Trump and Republicans in Congress have made, it will allow farmers to leverage strengthened price protection risk management tools and the reliability of fair-trade deals so they do not have to depend on large ad hoc assistance packages from the government.”
Later that week, in a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing with U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer, Hoeven responded on how the funding will serve as a bridge for producers, supporting them until the enhanced crop insurance and improvements to ARC and PLC, which Hoeven secured in OBBBA. “The Trump administration is out there fighting to get better trade terms and a level playing field for our farmers, ranchers and all of our exporters. We appreciate Ambassador Greer and all those across the administration who are doing this important work,” said Hoeven. “The $12 billion in agriculture assistance is a key part of our efforts, as it sends a strong message to China that we won’t allow them to put pressure on us by going after our farmers. At the same time, we’re securing ag purchases, opening up better long-term market access, particularly in southeast Asia, and working to enforce those agreements, including the 37 million tons of soybeans that China committed to purchase between the current and following crop year.”
Fedorchak issued a response to the announcement later on Dec. 8, adding that earlier this year, she sent a letter to Trump urging him to provide relief for North Dakota soybean farmers. “This is important news for North Dakota farm families who are struggling with record high input costs, low prices, and trade challenges,” Fedorchak said. “Our agriculture community leads our nation in exports and has been the tip of the spear for President Trump’s efforts to correct unfair trade practices. This assistance is critical to help our producers weather these challenges while trade deals are negotiated and enacted.”
However, Klobuchar, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, was not as sanguine about the administration’s announcement of assistance, indicating that struggling American farmers were impacted by Trump’s tariffs. On Dec. 8, she released the following statement, “While we need to help farmers who have been hurt by the President’s across-the-board tariffs, ultimately farmers want trade — not aid. The easiest way to give our farmers more certainty would be for the President to end his tariff taxes. This assistance will clearly benefit some farmers now, but a one-time payment is not a long-term fix — only restoring these markets can do that. While more details are needed, as announced this assistance may fall short for many farmers who have been harmed by the president’s reckless tariffs.”
Members of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL said that it was Trump’s trade war that decimated North Dakota soybean farmers’ markets, and led to the $12 billion aid package, adding that it came after Trump provided Argentina President Javier Milei with a $40 billion bailout. “Our farmers want trade, not aid,” said North Dakota Democratic-NPL Chair Adam Goldwyn. “We’re not about to give Trump a participation trophy for addressing the crisis he created for our farmers. He sent $28 billion more to bailout his pal in Argentina, and North Dakota farmers aren’t even going to get these funds until February. It’s insulting!”
North Dakota Democratic-NPL Communications Director Laura Dronen added, “This is yet another case of ‘too little, too late’ from this failed administration. It’s already so insulting that New Yorker Scott Bessent parades himself about as a soybean farmer, even though he’s never seen the inside of a combine. North Dakota family farmers and farmers across the country are facing bankruptcy, while Trump and his corporate farming ghouls are chomping at the bit to buy up fertile North Dakota land.”
According to the August 2025 edition of the NDSU Agricultural Trade Monitor, released by North Dakota State University’s Center for Agricultural Policy and Trade Studies, U.S. effective tariffs on agri-food products have nearly quadrupled in 2025, from an average of 4% to 15%, following the implementation of new measures under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Exports to China have fallen 53%, with soybeans, beef, and poultry shipments at five-year lows.
