FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Samantha Cave
Communications Coordinator
samantha@nffc.net
603-333-6281
The Farmer Bridge Assistance Program is Another Band Aid Solution to A Continuing Farm Crisis
Washington, DC, December 12, 2025 – The USDA announced on Monday a $12 billion aid package promising one-time direct payments to farmers, with nearly 92% of funding restricted to producers growing row crops, leaving a mere $1 billion in aid to specialty crop and other producers with few details on how it will be distributed. This “bridge assistance” is intended to temporarily tide farmers over until new reference prices from the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act go into effect in late 2026 and trigger farm payments that will disproportionately serve the largest operations, to the detriment of family-scale farms.
The announcement comes at the close of a remarkably turbulent year that left farmers mired in uncertainty, spurred by shortsighted tariff policies, disruptions to USDA funding, and a weakened focus on fair market competition. The aid package is too little, too late – farmers are making purchases now for the 2026 planting season, yet direct payments are not expected to arrive to farmers until February.
Although the press has only just begun reporting on a “new farm crisis” now that the very largest farms are being affected, family-scale farms that make up the majority of US farms have been in a worsening crisis for decades. They have been trapped in “boom and bust” cycles of price instability driven by an overreliance on export markets, coupled with a farm sector constricted by corporate monopolies. These growers don’t want short-term bailouts – they want agricultural markets which reward the rich social, environmental, and economic benefits they create.
Continuing to rely on stopgap methods like bailouts and subsidies to keep farmers afloat is untenable. Like previous administrations, the Trump administration is insistent on repeating history and inventing new export markets to avoid disaster, instead of reviving a system in which buyers of commodities pay farmers prices that cover their production costs. The devastation of the environment or damage to farming communities around the world isn’t even an afterthought.
The National Family Farm Coalition urges this administration to make good on their promises to put farmers’ first by prioritizing policies that make bailouts unnecessary. It must ensure equitable market access for independent farmers to compete on a level footing, develop regional farm infrastructure, increase fairer and more flexible access to credit, and implement fair pricing policies that provide secure business conditions and a living wage for farmers and workers. Without major changes in farm policy, short-sighted reliance on bailouts will put farmers out of business, further consolidate markets and farmland ownership, and waste taxpayer money.
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Since 1986, the National Family Farm Coalition has been mobilizing independent farmers, ranchers, and fishers to achieve fair prices, vibrant communities, and nourishing foods free of corporate domination. Today, NFFC’s 30 member groups span 44 states and represent family farmers, ranchers, and fishermen across the United States. Learn more at www.nffc.net