By Faith Parum and Cameron Castillo
Key Takeaways
- The Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) Program provides support for row crop farmers in the midst of a historic farm economy downturn.
- Nearly $9.6 billion in FBA payments have already been disbursed, with corn and soybean acres receiving the largest share of assistance to date.
- Specialty crop farmers are still awaiting details pertaining to payments under the Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers (ASCF) program, while sugar producers have been separately allocated $150 million in assistance with distribution details still being finalized.
- With farm financial conditions deteriorating and fertilizer and fuel prices rising, farmers will continue to face losses, underscoring the need for additional support.
In December 2025, USDA announced $12 billion in one time bridge payments, with $11 billion set aside for row crop producers in the Farmer Bridge Assistance program (FBA), and the remaining $1 billion reserved for specialty crop and sugar growers in the Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers (ASCF) program. Given the historic economic losses facing the American agriculture sector, the FBA was designed to serve as an economic bridge for farmers ahead of the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage enhancements enacted in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which take effect later this year.
On February 23, USDA opened enrollment for farmers who planted program crops during the 2025 crop year. The deadline to submit a completed FBA payment application to USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) was April 17. As of the publication of this Market Intel, nearly $9.6 billion in FBA payments had been disbursed, with nearly 500,000 applications approved by the FSA.
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