Congress Poised to Deliver Vital Aid to the Countryside?

For months, Southern Ag Today has been documenting growing economic pressure in the countryside, particularly for row-crop producers (see here, here, and here). We have also repeatedly highlighted the need for assistance to help growers shoulder losses in 2024 while preparing for a rather bleak outlook in 2025, particularly with farm bill negotiations having stalled in Congress. Following a weekend of high-stakes negotiations, Congress released its draft supplemental text on Tuesday, proposing $30.78 billion in economic and disaster assistance for the countryside. 

In October, we highlighted the introduction of the Farmer Assistance and Revenue Mitigation Act of 2024 (FARM Act) as introduced by Rep. Trent Kelly (R-MS). Of the $30.78 billion authorized by the supplemental, $10 billion is set aside for economic assistance that hews closely to the structure of the FARM Act. The supplemental did include a few key changes. For example, the payment factor was reduced from 60% (as envisioned in the FARM Act) to 26% to fit within the $10 billion budget for the program. Additionally, the supplemental also imposed minimum payments for economic assistance (based on 8% of the statutory reference price established in the 2018 Farm Bill), which serves to raise the payment rates for several of the smaller-acreage crops along with peanuts and rice. Table 1 includes an estimate of the payment rates for economic assistance. The payments will be based on acres planted to the eligible commodity in 2024 (for harvest, grazing, haying, silage, or other similar purposes) and 50% of the acreage prevented from being planted in 2024. Separate payment limits would apply for economic assistance: $125,000 for persons or entities that derive less than 75% of their income from farming, ranching, or forestry and $250,000 for persons or entities that derive 75% or more of their income from farming, ranching or forestry.

In addition to economic assistance, $20.78 billion will be available for disaster assistance to help cover losses in 2023 and 2024. Out of this amount, $2 billion must be made available for livestock losses; $30 million maybe made available to crop insurance agents to help offset the freeze in administrative and operating expense reimbursements imposed by the Obama Administration; and $3 million must be made available to address concerns with circumvention of trade laws regarding molasses on the northern border. Importantly, there are a number of other items that may be funded from this amount, including block grants for various purposes.  For example, the bill allows for block granted funds to be used for agricultural producers who have suffered losses due to the failure of Mexico to deliver water to the United States in accordance with the 1944 Water Treaty. The provision closely follows Rep. Monica De La Cruz’s (R-TX) bill – the South Texas Agriculture Emergency Assistance Act – which proposed to allocate $280 million in grants to the State of Texas (via the Texas Department of Agriculture) to help offset losses incurred by border producers.

As of the time of publishing, the path forward is not remotely clear. Yesterday afternoon, President Trump and Vice President-Elect J.D. Vance released a statement noting that “Republicans want to support our farmers…” but highlighting that “[t]he only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling.”  While this is strong support from the incoming Administration, the current Congress and Administration must sign it into law now for assistance to arrive in time to help with the 2025 crop year.

Fischer, Bart L., and Joe Outlaw. “Congress Poised to Deliver Vital Aid to the Countryside?” Southern Ag Today 4(51.4). December 19, 2024. Permalink