Up to $12 billion in relief funds will soon be available to farmers through the Farmer Bridge Assistance program, according to a Dec. 8 U.S. Department of Agriculture release.
The vast majority of these funds, up to $11 billion, would be set aside for row crop farmers who produce corn, cotton, oats, peanuts, rice, sorghum, soybeans, wheat and other row crops. The remaining $1 billion is being set aside for specialty crops not covered under the FBA program. Thanks to the success of TPI getting sod designated as a specialty crop in Congressional language in the 2008 farm bill, sod producers are eligible to be included in specialty crop relief programs.
The details, timelines and crop eligibility for any payments to specialty crop farmers from this program are still under development. TPI is in contact with USDA-FSA staff to make sure sod producers are included in any future relief funds to specialty crop farmers. The FBA program is designed to supply support to producers through a simple formula that model losses during the 2025 crop year. For row crop farmers, payments would be released by Feb. 28, 2026, to those eligible under the program and who have submitted 2025 acreage data by Friday, Dec. 19, 2025.
We will continue to monitor the details of this program as they are released by USDA, and if you have any questions, please call our Executive Director Casey Reynolds, PhD, at (919) 907-8238. If you grow row crops and would like to apply for payments under the bridge program, contact your local Farm Service Agency (FSA) office and submit up to date 2025 acreage by Friday, Dec. 19, 2025.
Find your USDA FSA Office through the official locator: https://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app
To read the official USDA press release, click HERE.
