At a Trump rally in Kansas Monday night, the briber-in-chief announced that the Department of Agriculture will be distributing $8 billion in economic aid to farmers that have been hurt by high diesel prices.
Fifteen days before midterm elections, Trump promised the plan, called the Harvest Fuel Relief Program, would bring relief for farmers harmed by Trump’s own policies.
The Agriculture Department will use a formula based on how many acres and which crops farmers planted to reimburse them for a “portion” of their losses. The money will come from the Commodity Credit Corporation, a financing institution that the Agriculture Department uses to fund crop insurance and natural disaster payment programs. Payment rates will be announced next month, and farmers will receive money at a later date.
The price of a gallon of diesel has averaged $6 or more in most of the country in recent weeks, compared with about $3.50 last fall.
“As a farmer of 50 years, this is embarrassing,” said former GOP Chair Christopher Gibbs in response to the announcement. “This year one third of US farm income will have come from the taxpayers. The SAME taxpayers who are struggling at their own kitchen tables. I can’t afford it, but however this comes, I’m pushing half to my local shelter and food bank.”
This will be the second major farm bailout in Trump’s second term.
The Farmer Bridge Assistance Program in December 2025 disbursed $12 billion to bail out farmers whose losses came from lower-than-usual exports due to the Trump tariff and trade policies.