By Stan Ozark 
The long-awaited Farmer Bridge Assistance rates are out! Rice and cotton will receive the highest per-acre rates, in keeping with earlier predictions.
On the last day of 2025, USDA announced the Farmer Bridge Assistance program rates for row crop and oil seed farmers hit hard in 2025 by the ongoing trade wars.
“Farmers who qualify for the FBA program can expect payments in their bank accounts by Feb. 28, 2026,” says Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in the announcement.
The following per-acre rates apply:
Corn: $44.36 Soybeans: $30.88 Wheat: $39.35 Cotton: $117.35 Rice: $132.89 Peanuts: $55.65 Sorghum: $48.11 Barley: $20.51 Canola: $23.57 Sunflower: $17.32 Lentils: $23.98 Peas: $19.60 Oats: $81.75 Mustard: $23.21 Safflower: $24.86 Flax: $8.05 Chickpeas: $26.46 (large), $33.36 (small) Sesame: $13.68
Oil seeds rapeseed and crambe — which were included in the original list of commodities to receive payments according to USDA’s Dec. 8 announcement of the bridge payments — were not included in the Dec. 31 rate list.
The payments, which amount to $11 billion, are intended to bridge the gap between current economic straits of farmers dealing with “unfair market disruptions” and the stepped-up farmer support programs from the previously titled “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which will take effect in October 2026.
In addition to the $11 billion for row crops, $1 billion was set aside for specialty crops and sugar. The Dec. 31 rate announcement, like the Dec. 8 initial announcement of the bridge payments, notes “timelines for payments to producers of these crops are still under development.”
The bridge payments are funded under the Commodity Credit Corporation and will be administered by the Farm Service Agency based on 2025 acreage reports. Payments will be released to eligible producers by Feb. 28 with a limit of $155,000 per entity or individual.
Tim Phillips