USDA is considering aid for farmers for their 2025 crop. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Stephen Vaden says they’re considering a “bridge” policy to help farmers facing low commodity prices.
He told reporters that they’re grateful for the provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill; however, “We know that many of the most important pieces of the One Big Beautiful Bill don’t come into effect until 2026…and we don’t get the Commodity Credit Corporation re-upped until, really, November of this year, and that’s after the harvest is largely completed for our corn and soybean farmers.”
He says the goal is to get farmers from this growing season to next growing season while they wait for those provisions to kick in.
Part of that is the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program, the $8 billion that we have laid out, the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program, the first tranche of which is about $4 billion total that we’ve laid out. The second tranche will be announced in September, which will cover crop losses that were not covered by crop insurance. And there may be future announcements to come in that respect as well. But all of that is only a partial answer. We are seeking to develop policy solutions to help bridge that, and that’s what the Secretary and I are working on and what she’s constantly talking to not only the president but other members of her Cabinet.”
Vaden didn’t offer additional details on what the policy could look like. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins was in D.C. for a Cabinet meeting with President Trump when Vaden attended the Farm Progress Show on Tuesday.
