USDA bridge payments move quickly as billions already sent to farmers

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture already has obligated more than $6 billion in payments under its new Farmer Bridge Assistance program just days after enrollment opened.

The program, intended to help farmers facing tight margins and weak commodity prices for the 2025 crop year, has drawn strong early participation from producers across the Midwest.

As of March 3, USDA had received more than 277,000 applications and approved about 231,000 of them, according to Richard Fordyce, USDA undersecretary for farm production and conservation.

“It’s really been really successful,” Fordyce said in a March 4 interview. “As of yesterday, we have obligated for payment just a touch over $6 billion.”

The $12 billion program was announced in December to provide economic assistance to producers of major farm program crops, including corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and rice. Payments are meant to offset weak prices and market disruptions tied to export tariffs during the 2025 crop year.

Bridge to better future

Fordyce said the payments are also meant to help farmers manage a gap between production costs and crop prices until provisions in new federal legislation take effect, such as changes to federal farm safety net programs.

“When we look at cost of production for the 20 crops that are listed as eligible versus the price farmers are receiving for those commodities, we’re seeing some challenging numbers,” he said.

But even with the payments, Fordyce said USDA estimates the program will cover only part of farmers’ financial losses.

“We had a limited amount of money,” he said. “We’re probably making up about 30% of that delta between cost of production and what the crop is worth when it’s sold.”

Midwest applicants

Early data shows strong participation from the Midwest, and Fordyce said corn and soybean producers currently account for the largest share of applications.

“In the first few days, the Midwest, upper Midwest are the hottest on the heat map right now,” he said.

That could change somewhat as enrollment continues, he added, because crops with higher per-acre payments, including cotton and rice, are grown in the South.

Acreage based

Payments are based on acres farmers reported planting in 2025 rather than on production levels or revenue losses. For example, USDA set payment rates at $44.36 per acre for corn, $30.88 for soybeans and $39.35 for wheat.

Fordyce said the acreage-based approach made it easier for USDA to estimate total payments nationwide.

“When you have a set dollar amount and you’re trying to spread that across 20 commodities nationwide, the best way to predict what the dollar demand would be was to use a per-acre payment,” he said.

Payments are capped at $155,000 per producer or legal entity. Producers with adjusted gross income above $900,000 are not eligible.

Designed to move quickly

Fordyce said the program is moving quickly because applications were prefilled using acreage data already reported to the Farm Service Agency. Farmers can access and sign the forms online through a Login.gov account or submit them through their local FSA office.

About 45,000 applications were completed by a producer simply clicking the signature box, Fordyce said, and in some cases, farmers who applied shortly after signups opened received payments within days.

“We’ve heard stories of folks that signed up Monday that had their money hit their account on Wednesday,” he said.

Specialty crop program still coming

With $11 billion allocated for traditional farm program crops, the remaining $1 billion is reserved for a separate assistance program for specialty crop producers. Payment amounts for nearly 100 different specialty crops, not including sugarbeets and sugarcane, will be announced in March. The USDA has set aside $150 million of the $1 billion for sugar producers. Also not listed were floriculture and horticulture, including cut flowers, foliage and potted plants.

A statement from the non-profit trade association American Grown Flowers said that for “more than two decades, federal statute has recognized floriculture and nursery crops as specialty crops.”

“Yet the current ASCF program relied on outdated definitions that do not include our sector. That means America’s flower and foliage farmers were left out of critical support,” read the statement.

Fordyce said developing that specialty crop program took longer because of the wide variety of crops involved.

“There are literally hundreds of specialty crops, and the economics of those are different regionally,” he said.

USDA is currently collecting acreage reports from specialty crop producers and expects to announce payment rates later in March.

Signup open through April

Enrollment for the Farmer Bridge Assistance program opened Feb. 23 and will run through April 17.

Fordyce encouraged producers who have not yet applied to contact their local Farm Service Agency office or sign up online.

“The farmer bridge assistance is meaningful support at a time when it’s important,” he said. “We would certainly urge producers to go check it out and participate.”

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