Gov. Lee Applauds $12B in USDA ‘Bridge’ Payments for Farmers Hurt by Trade Disruption, High Costs

By Cassandra Stephenson and Sam Stockard

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday that $12 billion will be available for one-time “bridge” payments to farmers who experienced trade market disruptions and increased production costs during the 2025 crop year.

The relief comes as Tennessee farmers are projected to lose $450 million this year, Gov. Bill Lee said during the Tennessee Farm Bureau’s annual meeting in Franklin on Tuesday.

Up to $11 billion in federal funding will be used for the Farmer Bridge Assistance program, which will provide relief payments to farmers who produce specific row crops, including soybeans, corn, cotton, and other crops widely grown in Tennessee. 

The remaining $1 billion will be reserved for specialty crops, sugar, and other commodities not covered in the Farmer Bridge Assistance program, but the distribution timeline for that funding is “still under development” and will “require additional understanding of market impacts and economic needs,” according to the USDA.

Payments will be based on planted acres.

Farmers have until Dec. 19 at 5 p.m. to ensure their 2025 acreage reporting is accurate, and the USDA will announce the payment rate by crop the week of Dec. 22, according to Alison Slagell, senior policy advisor to the USDA secretary.

Producers must certify that their adjusted gross income is less than $900,000 to be eligible. The program will limit payments to up to $155,000 per person or legal entity, according to USDA Undersecretary Richard Fordyce. Producers are not required to hold crop insurance policies to receive payments.

Eligible farmers should expect to receive payments by Feb. 28.

“If you plant an eligible crop and you’ve taken a hit, you’ll receive support,” Fordyce said during a Monday news conference.

Covered crops include:

• Barley
• Chickpeas
• Corn
• Cotton
• Lentils
• Oats
• Peanuts
• Peas
• Rice
• Sorghum
• Soybeans
• Wheat
• Canola
• Crambe
• Flax
• Mustard
• Rapeseed
• Safflower
• Sesame
• Sunflower

Lee said he is grateful for federal relief for farmers from the Trump administration.

“Our office has interacted with farmers in this state in order to advocate with the federal government for relief,” he said. “It’s a hard time, and you need to know that your elected officials understand that and are doing their best to navigate that in a way that’s gonna continue to help our industry.”

The payments are meant to “help address market disruptions, elevated input costs, persistent inflation, and market losses from foreign competitors engaging in unfair trade practices that impede exports,” according to the USDA. 

Fordyce described the program as an “economic loss” program spanning several factors that affected producers in the past year. When asked what portion of the payments are geared toward losses due to tariffs or trade deals, Fordyce said he is not sure about what portion of the payments were geared toward any one factor.

This year, Tennessee farmers growing soybeans, the state’s most prominent row crop, faced inflation, weather extremes and an unstable market amid tariff negotiations. In August, the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture projected that Tennessee soybean farmers would lose an estimated $110 million this year.

China — the United States’ largest soybean export partner — boycotted U.S. soybean purchases for several weeks in 2025 during negotiations with President Donald Trump, instead turning toward Brazil and Argentina for soybean imports.

China and Trump reached an agreement in October. China agreed to purchase at least 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans before January, and at least 25 million metric tons each year from 2026 through 2028. 

From Oct. 30 through Dec. 8, China has purchased 2,845,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans for the 2025-2026 marketing year, according to USDA data.

Asked whether Trump’s tariffs exacerbated farming losses in Tennessee, Lee said the tariffs generated money that will help offset the losses some producers suffered.

“It’s hard to speculate the impact of a tariff policy,” Lee said. “I do know that the plan for the impact of this tariff policy is actually to benefit producers, and this $12 billion relief package would be of great benefit to producers.”

“The tariff policy is complex and spans multiple industries,” Lee continued. “I can’t speculate as to the future there. But this plan is working, or is proposed to work. We’ll see how it works out.”

Fordyce and Luke Lindberg, the USDA undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, blamed policies under the previous administration for the shaky farm economy. 

China has been investing more in soybeans from South America instead of U.S. soybeans since Trump’s first administration. China is also a key trade partner for other U.S. farm exports.

“I would not characterize our trade demand as only driven by China,” Lindberg said, adding that producers have not yet seen opportunities that were generated by Trump’s trade deals. “Certainly, they are an important buyer.”

Lindberg said the trade deal with China “specifies a floor” for soybean purchases, but Trump is “optimistic that the Chinese will buy more soybeans and other products than even indicated in the initial agreement.”

Regarding adherence to trade promises, Lindberg said Trump “has ways to create … historic leverage in trade negotiations.”

“I think folks that renege on their promises to American family farms run the risk of the president taking even more aggressive actions yet,” he said.

Tennessee Lookout is an affiliate of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, supported by grants and donations.