Idaho farmers to cash in on Trump Administration’s $12 Billion Farmer Bridge Payment program
David Pace
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – Local farmers could be receiving a post-holiday bonus, as the Trump Administration rolls out a temporary $12-billion Farmer Bridge Payment program.
Announced a week ago by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the one-time payments are being made in “response to temporary trade market disruption and increased production costs.”
“These relief payments are going to go a long ways to help farmers who are up against it right now financially. It’s really tough in farm country right now for a lot of crop farmers,” said Idaho Farm Bureau Federation spokesman Sean Ellis. “Almost all prices for crops that I can think of that we grow in Idaho are down and some of them are down substantially.”
“I’ll give you an example. What it cost for Idaho farmers to grow 100 pounds of russet potatoes right now is about $8 to $9 total. On the open market, they’re getting about $2. So that gives you an idea of how much and how far underwater they are,” he continued.
Eligible farmers include producers of “corn, wheat, chickpeas, lentils, mustard, peas, canola, safflower and barley,” according to a United States Department of Agriculture news release.
$1 billion of the $12-billion fund will cover payments for “specialty crops and sugar.”
The Trump Administration blamed farmers’ tight economic conditions on policies implemented by the Biden Administration that resulted in “record-high input prices and zero trade deals.”
The deadline for farmers to verify their acreage for eligibility in the program is 3 PM on Friday, December 19.
“The plan we are announcing … ensures American farmers can continue to plan for the next crop year,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins in a release. “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,” she continued.
Farmer Bridge Assistance payments will roll out on February 28, 2026.
For more information on how to qualify, visit the USDA website or email farmerbridge@usda.gov.