Farm Aid Pressure Builds as Lawmakers Eye Another Package in Early 2026
- Media Logic Radio
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By Andrew Huneke and Lydia Johnson | Published on December 22, 2025
The Trump administration unveiled a $12 billion farm aid package last week, but some lawmakers are already saying more aid is needed. Before Congress left Washington for the year, Agri-Pulse Newsmakers spoke with Senate Ag Committee Chairman John Boozman about the future of the farm bill, the potential need for more farm aid in early 2026, and if there will be a time when farmers don’t need to rely on government payments.
Plus, Peter Bachmann with the USA Rice Federation and Dennis Nuxoll with Western Growers joined the show to discuss the market and commodity market losses rice and specialty crop growers are grappling with, and the need for an additional farm aid package in early 2026.
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Please note: This transcript has not been edited.
Lydia Johnson: Welcome to Agri-Pulse Newsmakers, where we aim to take you to the heart of ag policy. I’m your host, Lydia Johnson. Our guest this week is Senator John Boozman, the chairman of the Senate ag committee. He joins the show to discuss the newly unveiled Farmer Bridge Assistance Program, trade, the farm bill, and his 2026 priorities.
But first, here are this week’s headlines.
The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act cleared Congress this week. The House gave final congressional approval Monday to the bill to allow schools to return to serving flavored and unflavored reduced fat and whole milk. Sales of milk with the fat content above 1% have been banned since 2010. House Ag Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson, who has been a long advocate for the legislation, said dairy consumption among children fell short of what was recommended under the federal dietary guidelines and that the restrictions turned away an entire generation of milk drinkers. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle raised a glass to the bill’s passage during a Capitol Hill press conference this week.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer said the administration will prioritize dairy and produce issues in the 2026 USMCA review. In a briefing with House and Senate lawmakers, Greer said the administration will focus on securing greater Canadian market access for U.S. dairy, addressing low-cost produce imports from Mexico, and securing protections for U.S. products from geographic indicators in the review of the North American trade pact. Representatives from the three countries will meet in July to review the 2020 U.S. Mexico-Canada agreement and consider whether to extend it beyond its 2036 expiration date.
President Donald Trump and senior officials unveiled a $12 billion aid package to provide support for farmers impacted by market and commodity market losses. Now, ag committee members and farm state lawmakers are pushing for more aid in early 2026. House Ag Committee chairman GT Thompson told Agri-Pulse at least $10 billion in additional aid is needed. Thompson said providing payments to dairy, timber and specialty crops would be a priority in an early 2026 aid package. Row crop farmers can expect an estimate of their payment amount before the end of the year. Payments will be distributed by the end of February 2026.
Lydia Johnson: Arkansas Senator John Boozman is chairman of the Senate Ag Committee. To begin our conversation, I asked what his message was at the White House roundtable announcing the aid and why the package is so important to farm country.
John Boozman: Well, I think it said a lot that the president, took the time to make the announcement himself. And Secretary Rollins who’s worked so hard on the package and, just really wanted to demonstrate that he understands that farmers are in a difficult situation and, that as, in the past, he’s been there to support them and will be in the future. So, I was really pleased. I thought it went very, very well.
Lydia Johnson: And you’d hardly left the White House before the Arkansas Farm Bureau released a statement that $12 billion wasn’t enough. I’m curious, are you pushing for more farm aid in early 2026?
John Boozman: Well, it’s interesting, you know, when the president asked me to comment on the package, you know, I thanked them and, again, for working hard on this and, you know, has a history of doing these things, which is great, but I left the door open and said that, you know, we let’s essentially look and see how this affects things. But I think Congress, you know, will be willing to step up and help if we need to in the future. And he nodded to that. And we talked a little bit about that before. So, I think the question is, you know, is, is if we need to and I think we probably will, you know, how much, will that be? So, what they’re trying to do now is ascertain with this package who’s going to get what how that will affect things. And then again, factoring in, the tremendous gains that we were able to do in reconciliation, with the farm bill, we got about 85% of it done and increased ARC and PLC, improved crop insurance, did a number of things with the risk management tools to help our farmers. So I think you have to think in combination. The problem is they’re not going to get that money until, you know, October or so of next year. So, this is a bridge to get them by. But I do think that, you know, both factor into it. And we’re working with, Congressman Thompson, Chairman Thompson in the House who’s a dear friend and does a tremendous job, again, to figure out a path forward. But I think most people feel like because of the unique, you know, generational situation that we’re in now, with high input cost, very low commodity prices, our markets not being as good as we’d like, all of those kind of things. It’s made it very, very difficult. So, I think the commitments there, I think that Congress will step up. The question is how much? And we’ll be figuring that out in the next few weeks.
Lydia Johnson: And I’m curious if I can push you on the price tag. Chairman Thompson told me this week, you know, at least $10 billion would be necessary. I mean, do you think that that’s accurate or potentially more?
John Boozman: I don’t know. Like I said, you know, we’re working hard and I don’t want to get ahead of, the administration and USDA. Chairman Thompson is pretty smart. But we’ll have to wait and see what is figured out.
Lydia Johnson: And within the aid package you’re seeing in that $12 billion, only about 1 billion of that is available to specialty crop growers. As you’re having these conversations about the next aid package in 2026 and what how much that could be, what that could potentially look like, you know, are you looking at diversifying that maybe including dairy, forestry, you know, an emphasis on specialty crops. What’s that discussion been like?
John Boozman: Yeah. Again, dairy, not dairy but specialty crops in general. We need to look at very closely. And so, there’s a commitment to do that. Again, I can’t tell you, you know, how much or whatever, but I know that, that they are in it is a difficult situation as anybody.
Lydia Johnson: And I want to get your thoughts as well on the broader picture of these aid packages. Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins at the announcement said that, you know, these aid payments are meant to provide a bridge until the golden age. When farmers, you know, don’t need to rely on government payments. Do you think that there will be a time when farmers don’t need government assistance? And what will it take to get there?
John Boozman: Well, I think that that there will be a time, when they don’t need as much assistance as what we’re talking about now, this you know, this is really not sustainable over, over a very long period of time. I think that what we did in, in reconciliation, will go a long way to helping, you know, in the future, as far as the risk management tools that they need, so we’ll have to wait and see. One of my priorities, you know, next year, right off the bat, we’ve got to get all the, you know, the farm aid, you know, figure it out and all those kind of things. But the real priority is, is, you know, what do we do? You know, can’t keep throwing money at it. How do we how do we increase our markets? You know, what do we do to get farmers in a sustainable position? And so we’re going to, have a hearing or two about that, you know, getting, various experts and certainly the farm community and others to see what’s the step forward. And then that’s really where we start. Need to start putting the resources.
Lydia Johnson: House Ag Committee chairman GT Thompson said he wants to move a farm Bill 2.0, in January that would reauthorize programs not included in budget reconciliation this summer. We asked Senate Ag committee Chairman John Boozman what his plan is to move a farm bill in 2026.
John Boozman: I think it’s really important. It’s not as important, as important as it was a year ago, in the sense that we got about 85% of it done in reconciliation and really were able to come up with record dollars, for farmers, the changes to the risk management tools, the increases in things like, research and this and that were, really, unique and, something, you know, and we did things to the extent that had never been done before. That’s a good thing. On the other hand, we’ve got things left that were policy components that we couldn’t do in reconciliation. Reconciliation has unique rules that you have to follow. And again, policy things you can’t do. So, things like increasing loan limits need to be done. That’s a little thing. It doesn’t. As far as costing money. But it would be a huge help to our farmers. So, we got to get things like that up to standards. So we’re going to be working on that also right after the first of the year, we’ll coordinate with Congressman Thompson. The problem that we’ve had is anytime we start talking about that, then, there’s a desire, from some, to eliminate what we did. And as far as the reforms in nutrition and, we’re, you know, we’re simply not going to do that. So, we’re working around that.
Lydia Johnson: And you mentioned, you know, higher limits on USDA loans, but that’s, you know, relatively inexpensive fix is there, you know, conversation so far on if you can’t move a standalone farm bill attaching things like that or other small pieces of the farm bill onto other pieces of legislation, is there conversation on that yet, or is that something that that you’re open to?
John Boozman: No, I’m open. Again, what was done, the things that we did in reconciliation concerning, the risk management tools, that was thinking outside the box, you know, coming up with the money to get that accomplished, what we’ve got to do is think outside the box to, you know, to get these things accomplished, so I’m quite willing to look at individual bills. We’ve got a lot of bills out there that address these things, that members have submitted. They’re good bills. They’re not controversial at all. Taking those, having a hearing about them, grouping them together and then, you know, voting on something like that. So, whatever it takes.
Lydia Johnosn: We’ll be back with more Newsmakers. But first, Andrew Huneke looks at where your cut and artificial Christmas tree came from in this week’s Ag by the Numbers.
Andrew Hunuke: Whether your Christmas tree is real or artificial, it’s always one of the most vibrant parts of any home during the holiday season, and a place where families make lasting moments. Christmas tree farms across the country supply millions of home grown trees each year, and at the same time, there are also millions of dollars worth of imports of artificial trees. This first chart shows the states that are producing the most Christmas trees. According to the 2022 Census of Agriculture, Oregon is first with nearly 5 million trees, second is North Carolina with more than 3 million, and third is Michigan with nearly 2 million. At the same time, some Americans prefer the artificial tree, and most artificial trees sold in the country are imported from China. As you can see in this chart, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation, at least 87% of all artificial Christmas trees in the US have come from China since 2000, and import prices have risen from $170 million in 2000 to more than 500 million last year, for Agri-Pulse, I’m Andrew Huneke.
Lydia Johnson: Welcome back. The Farmer Bridge Assistance Program will provide $12 billion to farmers to compensate for market and commodity market losses. We’re joined by Peter Bachmann with USA, Rice Federation and Dennis Nuxoll, with Western growers, in our panel this week. Rice farmers could receive the biggest payment per acre of the row crops included in the aid, according to an estimate from the University of Illinois. To begin, Peter, what are your thoughts on the aid package and is it enough to get rice growers through to next fall when their farm bill program payments will come through?
Peter Bachmann: We certainly are hopeful that rice growers get a good portion of that aid. We don’t know exactly what it’s going to be. We’ve seen several projections out there. Our losses this year expected to be $364 per acre on average. And our cost of production is over $1,300 per acre. And so, when you look at those two figures, compared to most of the other row crops, we certainly are in a position where, our farmers are going to see huge losses, and we’d like to see a good portion of that. Not all of it recouped through some sort of economic assistance this year. And so, the aid that’s coming out is very we’re thankful for that. And we’re looking forward to seeing what our rates are next week. But we also realize that when you look at total losses across all commodities and at rice specifically, that that’s not going to get us even close to to being made, you know, even remote. And so, I think ECAP provided 26% of losses coverage this payment we expect to cover maybe a little bit more than that, 26%, but we’d like to see it more in the 65% range, before things are all said and done.
Lydia Johnson: And Dennis, I want to bring you into the conversation. The administration announced that $12 billion aid package with just 1 billion available to specialty crop growers. You know, is that enough to compensate growers for the loss of markets and falling prices? Or, you know, how much more could be needed?
Dennis Nuxoll: Well, you know, from our experience, we account for about, half to a third of all the crop value in the United States. So, getting access to $1 billion out of a $12 billion package isn’t really quite the same level of equity. We also have experienced, in our sector losses. Farm Bureau did a great analysis back in October, and we tend we have liked to use that analysis because it Farm Bureau of course, represents all of AG in that sense. And their economics department is quite good. You know, 2025 compared to 2020, you know, they have showed a 25% increase in pesticides, a 30% increase in fuel, a, almost 40% increase in fertilizer costs, and then a almost 50% increase in labor. For our sector, and labor, of course, accounts for the dominant portion of our inputs. So, we have also experienced, significant losses. And so we would like to see some additional assistance not only in, you know, the we were so certainly thankful for access to the billion dollars, the rules for that haven’t yet come out. Not entirely sure when they will come out. But we would like to, we, like Peter, are engaging with Congress to see if there’s you, maybe some additional resources, come available.
Lydia Johnson: Yeah. USDA said that, you know, 1 billion, that 1 billion, other commodities will be able to make their case for. You know, I’m curious, many specialty crops lack good data on market prices, you know, how should that money be distributed? And do you have any clarity on that process to really make the case for.
Dennis Nuxoll: We don’t have full clarity. I mean, you know, so western growers, we, we represent about half of all the fruit and vegetables grown in the United States. We have 300 different crops. Some of our crops do have the same sorts of detailed data that Peter just talked about, where you could, you know, parse out input, cost and production increases. Compare that to prices. As I told, somebody at USDA, a week or two ago, I don’t have that data for bok choy. Right? You know, I may have it for a couple of, of of our crops. We don’t have it for the hundreds of crops that are available. So what we have suggested is looking at the data that that Farm Bureau has provided and, and certainly USDA, economists can replicate that data as well. You see that the entire sector is harmed. And so from our perspective, that justifies some sort of payment and then engage with farmers themselves, and, and look at, you know, sales or revenue data to try to determine, you know, compare it to a baseline period sometime and then try to determine the magnitude of payment that, that he or she, should receive.
Lydia Johnson: Lawmakers are already turning conversations to a second aid package in 2026, but some farm groups are saying that what’s really needed is long term structural farm policy changes to stop the reliance on repeated payments. We asked Peter Bachmann, president and CEO of the USA Rice Federation, if a second round of aid payments is needed, or what should be done to make longer term policy corrections.
Peter Bachmann: Obviously, we would love to have the market over some sort of aid package. We feel like broken records. We’ve been on Capitol Hill this time of year every year for the last couple of years, looking for some sort of assistance. I think a lot of that help is coming through in the way of, the one big, beautiful bill. Plus ups to reference prices. That’s certainly going to be a big help for us next fall. But in the meantime, we need some sort of additional bridge payment to be able to get us to planting season this year. I’m on Capitol Hill today with our staff, doing some outreach to, to congressional offices looking at what that may look like next month or early next year for us to be able to get that additional assistance. And so we’re committed, like the specialty crop groups, to working with Congress and the administration on what that looks like, what what vessel is moving that we can attach some sort of additional funding to or, or what USDA can do, administratively to be able to add some more funding to get us to planting season this year.
Lydia Johnson: And, Dennis, I want to get your thoughts on that as well. I mean, we’ve heard, House Ag committee leadership saying, you know, specialty crop growers could and should be prioritized this, you know, early 2026 round of aid. But when we think longer term, what should be done to provide the stability for farm programs?
Dennis Nuxoll: Yeah, I sort of think about this, in, in in the three-step process. First, I, you know, we want to stabilize export markets. As you know, we have been impacted by some export actions in Canada, China, other places. So, we want to stabilize those, at least in the first place and hopefully expand. Right. So that would be one step. Secondly, we want the input crisis that we all face to stabilize as well. And I think that that involves lowering pesticide fertilizer inputs. Material input costs need to lower. And then also labor input costs need to be lowered. We’ve seen some of that already happen actually. The administration has moved forward on some H2A fixes, but more can be done, probably by Congress to stabilize labor. You know, so that’s the sort of second step that we see, you know, state reduce input costs, increase, and stabilize exports. And then the third step is how do we increase domestic demand of our products? And frankly, we have been quite receptive. And welcome to the MAHA movement, thinking about, healthier diets and things like that. And obviously a lot of the products that we produce fit into, sort of the mold of a healthier diet.
Lydia Johnson: We’ll be back with more Newsmakers. But first, Andrew Huneke looks at which states receive the most funding and value added producer grants. In this week’s Map It Out.
Andrew Huneke: USDA’s Value Added Producer Grants program helps agricultural producers develop new products, expand marketing opportunities and increase farm income. An Agri-Pulse analysis of USDA rural development documents found that from 2015 to 2025, USDA awarded more than 330 million in value added producer grants. This map shows the states that received the most funding in value added producer grants over that time period. Virginia was first with 21.6 million. California was second with 20.2 million, and South Carolina was third with 20 million. The sectors receiving the most money over the last decade include beef cattle ranching and farming at 32.8 million, wineries at 31.9 million, and dairy cattle and milk production at 24.2 million for Agri-Pulse, I’m Andrew Huneke.
Lydia Johnson: Thanks for joining us for another episode of Agri-Pulse Newsmakers. Both the House and Senate are out of session until January 5th. Tune in next week for a special episode. Looking back at influential ag policy decisions made this year. Check our website any time for the latest developments on all things food, farm and fuel policy. Plus, check our YouTube channel for a special video series on the future of ag technology. For Agri-Pulse, I’m Lydia Johnson. Thanks for watching.
Agri-Pulse is a trusted source in Washington, D.C., with the largest editorial team focused on food and farm policy coverage.
