USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is providing $11 billion through a one-time bridge payment to American farmers with an additional $1 billion available for additional commodities. This assistance provides producers with a bridge until the benefits of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) are available. These bridge payments are authorized under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act.
To be eligible, producers must meet the following requirements:
- Be actively engaged in farming.
- Have risk and interest in the eligible planted commodity.
- Report eligible acres for the 2025 crop year by 5 p.m. ET on Dec. 19, 2025
Eligible Commodities
The following commodities are eligible for FBA: Barley, Chickpeas, Corn, Cotton, Lentils, Oats, Peanuts, Peas, Rice, Sorghum, Soybeans, Wheat, Canola, Crambe, Flax, Mustard, Rapeseed, Safflower, Sesame, and Sunflower. All intended uses for FBA eligible commodities are eligible excluding grazing, volunteer stands, experimental, green manure, left standing, abandoned or cover crops. Below are the payment rates for the FBA eligible commodities that triggered a payment. Crambe had no reported crop acres in 2025 and rapeseed did not trigger an eligible loss.
The remaining $1 billion of the $12 billion in bridge payments will be reserved for commodities not covered in the FBA program, though details including timelines for those payments are still under development and require additional understanding of market impacts and economic needs. Anyone interested in providing data showing economic impacts due to increased input costs or trade disruptions for commodities not named under this assistance can share information via email at farmerbridge@usda.gov
Dec. 19, 2025 - Past deadline for reporting eligible FBA crops. Note: This only applies to FBA eligible commodities and does not apply to additional assistance that may be provided to specialty crops.
End of Dec. 2025 - Commodity-specific payment rates will be released by the end of the month.
Feb. 28, 2026 - Producers who qualify for FBA assistance can expect FSA to start issuing payments
FSA is using existing data to provide pre-filled FBA applications to eligible producers. An FBA payment calculator is available to help eligible producers estimate payments.
FBA payments will be based on 2025 reported acres, Economic Research Service cost of production, and the World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimate Report.
Double crop acres, including all initial and subsequently planted crops, are eligible. Prevent plant acres are not eligible.
The FBA payment limit is $155,000 per producer. The average adjusted gross income (AGI) limitation relating to limits on payments for persons or legal entities, excluding joint ventures and general partnerships, with certain levels of AGI apply. Specifically, a person or legal entity with an AGI (as defined in 7 CFR Part 1400) that exceeds $900,000 is not eligible to receive FBA payments.
Crop insurance linkage is not required; however, USDA strongly urges producers to take advantage of the new OBBBA risk management tools to best protect against future price risk and volatility.
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FBA News Release - Dec. 8, 2025
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Will the landowner receive a payment?
A. This assistance is intended for producers who have a share interest and risk in producing the crop.
Q. Are all intended uses eligible?
A. All intended uses are eligible with the exception of grazing, abandoned, left standing, volunteer, experimental, green manure, and cover only crops.
Q. Will the producer receive an application?
A. A pre-filled application will be available for producers on record as having filed an acreage report for an eligible commodity. The producer will then need to verify that the information on the application is correct.
Q. When will prefilled applications be available?
A. It is intended that prefilled applications will be available the week of February 23.
Q. Do the highly erodible land and wetland provisions (HELC/WC) apply?
A. Yes
Q. Are double crop and subsequent crop acres eligible?
A. Yes, initial and subsequently planted crops will be eligible regardless of being located in an approved double cropping area.
Q. Can I file an FSA-578 late filed acreage report with FSA after December 19th for the FBA program?
A. An FSA-578 late filed acreage report can be filed after December 19, 2025; however, that acreage will not be eligible for Farmer Bridge Assistance.
Q. Why aren’t prevent plant acres included?
A. CCC funds may be expended under the Charter Act only as authorized in that act; there must be an affirmative grant of authority for expenditures. There is no authority in the Charter Act that specifies the use of CCC for losses due to natural disasters.
Q. Does the $900,000 Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) provisions apply to FBA?
A. Yes, producers having an average AGI exceeding $900,000 will be ineligible.
Q. What is the payment limitation for FBA?
A. The per person payment limitation for FBA is $155,000.
Q. How will entities be treated under FBA?
A. Entities such as corporations, limited liability corporations, S corporations, trusts, will be limited to $155,000.