What Might 2026 FBA Payments Look Like

We estimate 2025 Farmer Bridge Assistance Payment Rates

Photo by Arno Smit on Unsplash

President Trump and members from USDA announced a $12 billion farmer aid package yesterday. It will be known as the Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) program and here are the current known details:

• $11 billion for Title I crops,

• $1 billion for specialty and other crops,

• $155,000 payment cap,

• No increase for more than 75% farm AGI (a lot more farmers would have qualified due to equipment gains automatically being farm income now),

• Payment rates based on planted acreage reports due December 19, 2025,

• Final payment numbers the week of December 22, 2025 (they call it a Christmas gift).

This appears to be a similar calculation to the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP). ECAP took the December 2024 MYA estimates from USDA and then subtracted the estimated cost of production for the 2024 crop and then applied a payment percentage. $10 billion was authorized for ECAP, $11 billion for FBA. Therefore, it is likely that FBA payment rates will be at least 10% higher on average.

Let’s assume that any increase in the cost of production for 2025 compared to 2024 will be about the same percentage for all crops. Therefore, the only difference between ECAP and FBA is the estimated MYA price. Here are our estimates of how the final FBA payment rates will be for six crops: